Deceptions
by Tora-Hime-Melody
Summary: Naruto and his friends have all grown up. Now its the time to follow their kids as they go on their own adventures. But something's up... Arisu Uzumaki is about to graduate from the academy but not is all as it seems.
1. Prologue

A tall blond man paced back and forth in his office. The sky looked black and ominous outside the large window behind him. He turned to his desk and slammed his fists down upon it. The sound was loud; although the desk showed no evidence that it was ever hit.

His azure-blue eyes were full of concern and worry. He resumed pacing his office, looking every once and awhile back out the window. It was getting later and later. What was keeping her?

The door busted open; there standing was a man with a black bowl-cut hairstyle and a green jumpsuit. "She's finally here; she's with Sakura getting ready."

The blond man's face was still shocked, "was she ok? She wasn't hurt or anything…"

"She seemed fine, you need to get ready yourself sir."

"Right, right…" he was preoccupied.

Another man came through the open door, "What? You two aren't ready yet? Hurry up!" he had black hair and was in a black tuxedo.

The one in green left the room after giving the blond a small bow.

"Come on sir," the one who was left grabbed gently at the blonds arm. He pulled his arm out of the new comer's grasp.

"I can get ready on my own." He responded, a bit angrily.

"I know you can, but the real question is will you? I realize that you were worried about her return but she's back now and you're going to end up being late."

The blond laughed, finally relaxing. "It would be odd for the groom to be late to his own wedding, wouldn't it?" He left the room following the other to another room.

A raven-haired woman was dressed up in a beautiful elegant wedding dress. She sat in a chair as a pink-haired woman was doing her hair.

"I don't know if I can do this," she said nervously.

"Relax, just look to your fiancée when you enter and only pay attention to him," the woman tried to calm her down.

"Sakura…" The raven was about to start again. A lot had happened in such a short amount of time.

"Take a deep breath, hold it for five seconds, and then release it." Sakura instructed the nervous woman.

She did as she was told. She was feeling better already. She looked at herself in the mirror and was amazed at how beautiful the woman in the reflection was. "There's no way that's really me…"

"It is, just wait until he sees you."

The woman's face turned scarlet.

Naruto Uzumaki, the 7th Hokage, and Hinata Hyuuga; the two of them were facing one another at the altar.

"I now pronounce you man and wife."

Approximately nine months later – a baby girl was born.


	2. Chapter 1

A 12-year-old girl awoke and stretched, blinking to the bright light of the morning sun. She got ready for the day. Her outfit was a black skirt with matching shorts underneath and a red tank top with a blue short-sleeved jacket over it. Her black hair was pulled back into a half-ponytail and went half-way down her back. She had pale grey eyes, like her mother's, but in a darker shade.

She bounced around the room as she gathered her items for the day. Her looks were from her mother, but it seemed her personality was more like her fathers.

She ran into the kitchen and sat down at the counter. "Morning mother!" she called energetically.

"Morning dear," her mom turned around and put a plate with eggs and toast down before her daughter. It was Hinata, her hair back in a low pony-tail and an apron around her.

"Where's dad?" the girl asked.

"Over in his office, he has missions to give out this morning."

"Maybe I'll go see him before I go to the academy today," she said with her mouth full of food.

"He'd like that," Hinata sighed happily as she put down another plate next to her daughter.

"Morning Arisu," a little boy said quietly. He had spiky blond hair like his fathers, though he had emerald green eyes. He was 9-years-old, and he was just finishing up his first year at the academy. Although he looked a lot like his father, his personality was more like his mothers.

"Morning Jiraiya," Arisu answered him. She finished her milk in a few gulps and got up to put her dishes in the sink.

"Leaving already?" her mother asked.

"Yea, I'm going to hang with a few of my friends after class. I'll be home before dark." Arisu called out as she left.

She ran to the building before her home – the Hokage's building. She continued to run up the flights, ignoring the people she passed. Reaching the door of Naruto's office she paused to catch her breath and to check if anyone was busy with the Hokage.

"Byakugan" she muttered to herself. She could see through the wall and into the next room. She saw her dad sitting behind his desk; he was looking down at some paperwork that was there. Before him was a man that she recognized.

Things looked a bit different than normal, however. She had been using her Byakugan for awhile now, so she knew how it normally worked. Her Byakugan was more offensive, like Neji's; rather than defensive, like her mothers. She couldn't understand how it was different, but she could tell…

Arisu burst through the door in on the meeting and ran to the man. "Uncle Neji!" she jumped up into his open arms.

He picked her up when he caught her and spun her around once before putting her back on the ground. "What are you doing here?" She had been calling him 'uncle' forever now. No matter how many times he told the girl otherwise, she'd still call him that.

"Seeing daddy before I go to class," Arisu explained.

"Silly girl," he commented, giving her a nudge towards the man behind the desk.

"And where's daddy's hug?" Naruto asked with a laugh in his voice.

Arisu ran around the desk and sat on her dad's lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed tight.

Naruto laughed, his daughter always made things fun; well at least most of the time. "Alright now."

She let her dad go, but continued to sit on his lap, "so what were you two talking about?"

"Grown up stuff," Naruto explained.

"I'm going to graduate tomorrow, I'll be a Genin!" Arisu said proudly, pointing her thumb to her chest.

"IF you can pass the exam," Neji pointed out. At this Arisu stuck her tongue out at him.

"It doesn't sound that hard, mom said that you guys just had to do the clone jutsu. I'm a pro at that one."

Neji just chuckled.

"You're going to be late if you don't leave for class now," Naruto said.

"It's not like the academy is that far away," Arisu complained.

"Go," Naruto put a little command in it. Arisu knew he meant business with that voice. She got off her dads lap and left the room promptly. She didn't try to listen in on her dad's conversations. She wasn't like some of her classmates.


	3. Chapter 2

At the academy:

Arisu got to the academy and in her classroom in plenty of time. She sat in her normal seat in the middle of the room next to a boy with sand colored hair and dark eyes. He had his head down on the table before him.

"Morning Ryo," Arisu greeted him as she sat down.

He just huffed, keeping his head down.

Arisu just sighed. Ryo wasn't really talkative, but who really would with the parents he had; Temari and Shikamaru. He was just like his parents; really smart, thinking things through, and really hard to get along with unless you clicked just right with him.

Another boy sat next to Ryo's other side. "Morning Ryo." He had bright red hair and practically yellow eyes. He was the son of the weapon shop owners, so of course he was a master with weapons. Makoto was Ryo's best friend. He was related to Tenten somehow…but it was confusing how.

Arisu just shook her head at the duo, who had started into a conversation, and looked to her other classmates who were already in class. Only one person was missing: her best friend.

There was a group of three just a bit away. Yori and Ran were twins. Their dad was Choji, so his son Yori was built like he was and used similar jutsu. His hair was much tamer; however it was still the same color brown. Ran, who had short messy black hair, used genjutsu like her mother. The two of them were talking to Kain; he had messy black hair that was always going in whichever what way. He was a power hitter and focused his chakra into his fists to make a bigger hit.

There was a pair up in the corner, laughing away. They were both good at chakra control. Ayumu was the youngest son of Ino. He had blond hair like his mom, and even had it long enough to have a small ponytail at the base of his head. The girl he was chatting with was Kari. She had long brown hair that was pulled back in a half-ponytail.

A boy with black hair and red-brown eyes ran into the classroom and quickly sat down next to Arisu, huffing as if he ran the whole way. He was Kurenai and Asuma's youngest son.

"Morning Takashi," Arisu giggled.

They didn't get to talk, however, because the sensei came in then. "Morning class. You all know that you will graduate tomorrow, pending you can pass today's test. Tomorrow you will come and participate in the graduation ceremony, which is when you will get your leaf headbands. Then you will be put into 3-man teams and given a Jounin squad leader."

"Yes Ichiru-Sensei" the class said together. He looked very similar to Takashi, except had his dad's eyes. He was the first-born of Asuma and Kurenai.

Takashi rolled his eyes as he sighed. His older brother behaved in class when he was teaching but he was always full of himself when they were at home.

Arisu stifled a giggle at her friend. He always acted like this when his brother was talking.

"Ok," Ichiru broke out of lecture mode, "let's review a few different jutsu before the test. We'll be doing the testing in the next room. Once you hear your name called, please go across the hall and do as the proctors ask of you. Once you are done you are free to go home."

"That's not fair Ichiru-Sensei, the first person to take the test gets to go home a lot earlier than the last," Ran pointed out.

"That's the way the exam works," Ichiru explained.

"Let's just get this over with," Takashi sighed.

After practicing for two hours, the class was ready for the test. "First up will be Ayumu," Ichiru said.

He took a deep breath and stood up, "wish me luck." And he left the classroom.

Ichiru waited fifteen minutes before he called the next name, "Makoto." He continued to call names every fifteen minutes. "Ran. Yori. Kain. Ryo. Kari. Takashi." Soon enough only Arisu was left in the classroom.

"Why am I last Ichiru-Sensei?" she asked.

"You were put last because we can't show favoritism to the Hokage's daughter."

"So you make me go last?" she complained.

Ichiru chuckled, "just go take the test."

Arisu left the room and entered the one across the hall. Three people were sitting behind a table. In the middle was her dad; on his right was someone she recognized as her dad's old academy teacher, Iruka. On her dad's left side was one of his good friends, Shikamaru.

She walked to the middle of the room without a word. She knew that this was a test.

"Please show us your clone jutsu. Make two clones of yourself" Iruka said.

A big smile played across her face, matching her fathers. She did the hand signs quickly and a puff of smoke issued. Once the smoke cleared there was ten Arisu's standing before the judges.

"Pass, with flying colors," Naruto said happily.

Arisu's smile got bigger as her clones disappeared. She left the room without a word. Once she was clear from the door she ran out of the academy into the sunlight. It was early afternoon yet and she was free.


	4. Chapter 3

After eating lunch at Ichiraku Ramen to reward herself, Arisu went to the training grounds. Of course it was empty. All of her classmates were probably playing somewhere. She jumped up on top of one of the three standing logs. A little more practice wouldn't hurt.

"Byakugan!" she muttered as the usual veins popped out on the side of her head. That was the one thing she didn't like about the jutsu.

The world turned into the usual grays as she could see all around her. There was two birds perched on top of the memorial stone, a squirrel was eating nuts on the other side of the grounds, and…

There was someone hiding behind one of the trees just to the right of her. She looked closer, but it wasn't one of her classmates. She didn't even recognize who the man was.

Arisu looked closer at the man to see he had a precise chakra network and a large amount of chakra too. She couldn't tell by just looking, but it seemed that he could be as strong as her dad.

She saw his hands moving and before she knew it she had processed what jutsu he was about to use and performed it seconds after he did. A large fireball came from the trees and Arisu meet it with her own, which was about a third smaller. The two fireballs meet and exploded on contact.

Arisu was shocked; she didn't know the Byakugan could do that. When sparing with her brother just a few days earlier, she couldn't read his jutsus like this. She felt more chakra being drained as well.

She could feel herself getting weaker, it really was draining her. She stopped her doujutsu and looked in the direction of where the fireball came from. She couldn't see through it without her Byakugan, but it looked like the attacker was gone already.

Arisu walked into town and to the hospital. Whenever she felt drained she could always get a pick-me-up from Sakura. Sakura was one of her parent's closest friends, and also head of the medical core.

Arisu walked through the hospital, up to the main office, and knocked on the door.

"Come in," a woman's voice said.

Arisu entered to see Sakura sitting behind her desk looking at some papers. Her pink hair was back at the base of her head – she was working.

"Hi Sakura," Arisu greeted her.

"Hey," she never looked up from her papers.

"I was wondering if I could get a chakra boost."

"Sure, training again?"

"Yea…"

Sakura set her papers down and finally looked at Arisu. She gasped as she ran to the girl's side. "Arisu, your eyes…" She looked closer at them.

"What about them?"

"The color's changed; did you overuse your Byakugan?"

"What?" Arisu stood up and ran to a mirror that was on the wall. Her eyes _were_ a different color. They looked like someone had watered down the color of blood – a lot.

"Did you?" Sakura asked again.

"Not really. I barely used it, although it has been different than before." Arisu said.

"What do you mean?" Sakura started pointing a small light into Arisu's eyes one by one.

"Well when someone attacked," Arisu started.

"Someone attacked you? Where?"

"I was at the training grounds of course! Someone was behind a tree and did a fireball jutsu towards me, but it was like I knew what he was going to do."

"Did you recognize them at all?" Sakura started writing notes on a sheet of paper she pulled off her desk.

"No, but their chakra network was really advanced."

"Have you told your parents yet?"

"No way!" Arisu gasped. "I'm not planning on telling them, they'd yell at me!"

Sakura laughed, "then I won't tell them either. Just take it easy on those eyes of yours. They don't seem to be damaged at all or anything. I'm not an expert on the Hyuuga bloodline trait or anything. Ask your uncle next time you see him, since you don't want to involve your mother."

"Ok,"

"Oh and here," Sakura tossed her a small clear box with two blue pills in it. "Your pick-me-up."

"Thanks again Sakura," Arisu said before leaving the room. She stopped in a nearby bathroom to look at her eyes closer. "Byakugan," she said quietly, activating the jutsu. Something black was in the center of her eye. She never had a pupil before, so why now…

She cut off the jutsu before it could do anymore damage. She took one of the small pills in her mouth and bit it once with her teeth before swallowing it. Immediately she could feel her chakra increase. She put the bottle with the other pill in her pocket and left the hospital.


	5. Chapter 4

Akemi didn't want to go home just yet. Dinner would most likely be late tonight with the Graduation Ceremony tomorrow. The Hokage would have to get things ready for it. Just the typical night for her dad. She left the hospital and walked the streets of the village.

She wasn't really concerned about the attack earlier. It had completely slipped her mind as she thought of the ceremony tomorrow. She was excited to finally get her Leaf Ninja headband and be an official ninja.

She people watched as she walked the streets of the village. A mother trying to get her daughter to come home. A few people at a market where there was a sale. A couple making out on a bench. It was like Arisu was getting a glimpse of each person's life.

"Hey!" someone was speaking to Akemi.

She looked around, but didn't see anyone. "Where…"

"Down here kiddo," there was a small red-orange toad in the middle of the road.

"Gamakichi…" Akemi recognized the toad right away. It was one of her dad's summon frogs. If he was here that would only mean…

"Your dad wants you home. Dinners ready." Gamakichi explained.

She sighed, "yea…yea…" After picking up the toad she started her trek back to the Hokage's mansion.

Akemi walked into the dining room at home and placed Gamakichi on the table. "I'm home…"

"Welcome home, Thanks Gamakichi,," Naruto answered.

"See ya boss!" Gamakichi said before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"So what were you doing out so late?" Hinata asked.

"Just walking around the village," Akemi responded truthfully. She kept the container with the chakra pill hidden.

"Let's eat dinner now everyone," Hinata said.

The family of four ate a homemade dinner together and headed off to bed to await the ceremony the next day.

Akemi awoke and got in her clothes after a quick shower. She put half of her hair back in a ponytail as the rest hung there. She looked herself over in the mirror. Her eyes were still dark. It was a lucky thing her parents didn't notice the night before.

She snuck out of the house. The sun was just peaking over the great stone faces. She was too excited to sleep any longer. The ceremony would be held just outside their home, the Hokage's mansion. She could wander a bit since it would be hours until things were even set up.

She wandered the village again, unsure of where to go. Not many people in the village would even be up at this hour, so it was like she had everything to herself. Her feet carried her down street after street as the sun rose higher in the sky.

She stopped abruptly when she was in an abandoned part of the village. A large arch with a blue-and-white fan symbol on it marked the entrance to a desolate street. She recognized this place: the Uchiha district.

Her footsteps echoed off the empty buildings as she walked down the main street. Windows were broken, doors were off their hinges, and the place looked like it could crumble at any moment. It looked like it had been years since anyone had lived here.

Akemi wasn't watching where she was going and ended up bumping into someone. She fell on her butt with a yelp. She looked up and saw her dad standing before her.

"Hi daddy…"

"What are you doing here?" Naruto could sense how dead the air was. Although something wasn't right, he felt on edge.

"I was just walking around…" Akemi got up and brushed the dirt off her clothes.

"Come on, the ceremony is going to start in just a little bit." He laughed, "You don't want to be late now, do you?"

"No way!" She said excitedly as the two of them jumped off in earnest back towards their home.


	6. Chapter 5

The two of them arrived in good time. Everyone was just sitting down as Arisu joined her classmates on the left side of the stage. Naruto stood in the middle of a group of ninja. On one side was Ichiru-Sensei, and on the other was Iruka-Sensei.

Arisu glanced out at the audience. There were two aisles and six rows, with family and friends taking up the seats. She recognized everyone immediately, and could point out where her mother and younger brother were sitting. She smiled and did a small wave to them. Hinata was sitting next to the aisle and Jiraiya was sitting next to her.

"Please come across and receive your Leaf Shinobi Headband from the Hokage and wait on the other side of the stage. We will then give out your squad assignments." Iruka explained to the group, getting the ceremony started.

Ichiru cleared his throat and called the first name, "Ayumu." He came across the stage and took the headband with a bow and crossed the stage, tying it to his forehead.

Ichiru called the next name, "Makoto." He bowed as he took his own headband and tied it on his forehead and joined Ayumu.

"Ran." She bounded up and took the headband, dropping it to the ground. She blushed as she picked it up quickly and ran to join her classmates. She fumbled with the fabric as she tied it around her waist.

"Yori." He took the headband in the same manner as the boys before him. He had the headband tied around his forehead before he meet with his classmates.

"Kain." He took the headband and stood before the Hokage while he tried to tie it to his right arm, but he was having difficulty with it. Eventually Ichiru helped him and gave him a gentle push towards the right side to his friends.

"Ryo." He bounded forward and received his headband with a deep bow. He went over to join his sister and had her help him get the headband on his head.

"Kari." She gracefully walked over and took the headband with a bow. She walked over to her friends, tying the cloth around her neck.

"I wonder who's left…." Ichiru was joking around. Takashi just rolled his eyes, he knew he was next. "Takashi I guess…" Ichiru sighed with a smile. Takashi walked up and got his headband, and joined his friends while tying it to his forehead.

A huge smile snuck its way on Naruto's face. There was only one more academy student left to get her headband.

"Arisu," Ichiru called out.

She smiled as she tried to pace herself as she walked over to her dad. She stopped just before him and bowed once. Naruto just smiled as he then proceeded to put the headband on his daughter's forehead. She then skipped over to her friends.

"I present to you the new Leaf Village Shinobi!" Naruto called out as the crowd cheered. The new ninja were all getting excited now. Soon they would be told who their squad leaders would be.


	7. Chapter 6

Suddenly, however, the small ceremony was surrounded by nine people covered head-to-toe in black cloaks. The ninja in the audience stood up quickly and prepared themselves for battle. Naruto took a few steps out into the middle of the group. "Who are you?"

One more person in black appeared at the end of the circle and walked up the main aisle of where the family members were sitting. They stopped where Hinata was sitting and continued to stare at Naruto.

"Who are you," Naruto demanded.

The figure in the middle took down his hood to reveal black hair and matching eyes. There was an odd expression on his face – like he was mocking Naruto. He didn't say a word.

A few members of the crowd gasped. Those ninja that were present kept their eyes on the figures in black as well as the new comer.

Naruto's eyes widened. He'd recognize that man anywhere. "What are you doing here, Sasuke?"

"You have something that belongs to me," Sasuke replied, in a cool and calm voice.

"What are you talking about? We haven't been in contact since that time…" Naruto knew he couldn't go into detail of what happened those many years ago. Most of the people present didn't know what happened, and didn't need to know.

"Once you return her, then I will be on my way," Sasuke acted like he didn't even hear what Naruto said.

"Her?" Naruto questioned him.

Sasuke raised his right arm as his hand became exposed. He extended his pointer finger and pointed at the group of new Shinobi.

Naruto followed where Sasuke was pointed. The breath caught in his throat as he saw who he meant. His daughter: Akemi.

Akemi was frozen. This man wanted her. She didn't know him but apparently her dad did. She felt her blood grow cold as she looked in the eyes of the man. Something did seem familiar to her, but she wasn't going to try to think about that now – not at a time like this.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, a bit angry. He looked back at Sasuke, but shifted towards the group of Genin.

Sasuke lowered his arm, his hand slipping back into his cloak. "She's mine, and I'll take what's rightfully mine back with me now."

"Akemi is my daughter and a member of the Leaf Village. She will go nowhere with you!" Naruto said angrily.

Sasuke sighed; a fleeting look of sadness crossed his face for only a brief second before it passed. "I really hate to do this," he looked right, and meet eyes with Hinata.

Hinata was stuck; she couldn't move or break eye contact. She watched as Sasuke's eyes went red and an odd symbol appeared. Suddenly her head felt like it was going to explode. She broke free only to scream out in pain and grab her head, falling to the ground.

Jiraiya started to cry as he took a few steps back. Kakashi was nearby and grabbed the boy and held him back as Sakura ran to try to help Hinata.

"Hinata!" Naruto called, looking first to his wife then to Sasuke. "What did you do?" He was seriously getting pissed off now.

"I can stop it, just hand the girl over to me."

Naruto looked back to his daughter. Silent tears were falling down her cheeks as a look of complete fear was on her face. He then looked to his wife who was in pain lying on the ground. Sakura looked loss as how to help the woman. What was he to do?

"No." he responded simply. "You can't have my daughter."

Sasuke raised his other hand and the other nine in black flashed by. A clanging noise stopped them as Shinobi were fighting Shinobi in the middle of the group.

Akemi continued to cry. Her friend's parents were fighting for her when she was frozen in her spot. It was two leaf ninja per one black cloaked one, and they were still having a hard time.

Takashi shook Akemi's shoulders. "Akemi, you need to get out of here." The rest of her friends were either looking to Akemi except Ran and Yori who had run to protect their younger sibling.

"What?" Akemi asked in a daze.

"That guy's after you. If you get away then the fighting can stop." Takashi explained easily.

She rubbed the tears from her face and turned to her friend, "but how am I going to get away? He'll be able to see me leave."

"We can all do the clone jutsu and the transformation jutsu to be like you." Kain suggested.

"That way he'd have a hard time figuring out which one is you," Makoto continued.

A small smile was on Akemi's face. "That might work – thanks everyone."

"On the count of three…" Ryo did the countdown, "One…Two…Three!"

The seven Genin that were left did the Clone and Transformation jutsu at the same time – making around thirty Akemi appear.

Sasuke looked to the group of the girl. His Sharingan was activated and was able to pick out which one was the correct girl right away. He watched at the group of children started jumping off in every which direction. That plan would work better if they were dealing with amateurs.

Naruto had watched the kids do their jutsu. He knew that Sasuke wouldn't be fooled by the kid's plan. He jumped and followed Sasuke closely as he pursued one lone girl who was running towards the training grounds. There was no way Naruto was going to let Sasuke get his hands on his daughter.


	8. Chapter 7

Akemi made it to the training grounds and collapsed, out of breath. She had run as fast as she could to get away from the fight. She sat on the ground to try to catch her breath and leaned against the middle post. It took only a few seconds before the man called Sasuke joined her in the clearing.

"Hello," he said calmly to her.

She stood up quickly, keeping her back to the post. She pulled out a kunai from her hoister on her right leg and held it in front of herself in a defensive position. She had activated her Byakugan instantly, it was still acting up like the day before.

"Now no need to fight," Sasuke said, his voice completely different than back at her home.

"I won't go with you," she said, her voice a little shaky.

"Sasuke!" Naruto called out angrily as he stopped a few feet before his daughter.

Sasuke just sighed, "Naruto."

"Akemi is my daughter, she will be staying here!" his eyes were turning red and the scratches on his face were deepening - evidence that the Kyuubi still resided inside him.

Akemi froze again, more fearful than she was before. She could see that her dad's chakra was increasing and slowly changing. Something was happening, but she didn't know what. She had never seen her dad like this…

"There's no reason to call out the Kyuubi now Naruto," Sasuke said calmly, still using the voice he was using with Akemi.

"Then explain…" Naruto growled, his hands balling into fists.

"I used Hinata to create a child with perfect eyes. Combining the Byakugan and the Sharingan, its vision would be perfect. There would be no danger defects to the eyes. It's the only way to finally defeat Madara." Sasuke explained.

"You expect me to believe that?" Naruto growled angrily. "We took care of Madara long ago with the destruction of the Akatsuki."

"He is a demon now, living in the darkness and still wishes to control the earth. I have found the best in every field and only needed my child to complete the team." Sasuke added.

Naruto growled, baring his teeth to the man before him. There was no way he'd believe someone who he hasn't seen nor heard from in over fifteen years.

"I used one of my doujutsu on Hinata and erased her mind of one complete day. Just before she was heading back to the Leaf, it was my only chance. I tried to get her younger sister but she proved to be elusive."

Naruto still glared at Sasuke.

"If you don't believe me, look at her. Look at her eyes." Sasuke said.

Naruto turned around to look at his daughter. Akemi had tears running down her cheeks again as she shook in fear. She clenched her eyes shut and slid down the log, gripping her knees and hiding her face. She didn't want to believe the man, but she didn't want to show her dad if it was true.

Naruto calmed down immediately, seeing his daughter crying like that. He slowly walked over and knelt by her side and patted her on the head. "It's ok Akemi…" he said softly to her.

"Just go," Naruto commanded Sasuke.

Sasuke looked to the girl, then to Naruto. He could tell that there was only one way he'd get the girl out of the village, and he wasn't about to start a war over one simple girl. He could wait; it had been twelve years already, a little longer wouldn't hurt. "I will be back…" and he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Akemi pulled her head out and looked to her dad, her Byakugan not active anymore. "Daddy…." She muttered. Her eyes were still a washed-out blood-red color.

It was the first time Naruto was noticing the color change in his daughter's eyes. He was concerned that somehow maybe Sasuke was right – but he would worry about that at another time. He wrapped his arms around his daughter and pulled her into a tight hug. "It's ok Akemi, your safe. I will protect you no matter what."

She just nodded her head into his chest. They knelt there for a few minutes before standing back up and walking back towards home.


	9. Chapter 8

When they got there, the place didn't look to be in too much of a mess. Jiraiya was crying along with another child. Hinata was sitting up now and under the careful watch of Sakura who was healing her. Other than many of the chairs being tipped over it looked like nothing else had happened. No one was injured and everything seemed to be calmed down.

The new Genin were in front again, all talking at once to Ichiru who looked overwhelmed. They all got quiet when the spotted Akemi walking back with her dad.

"Mom!" Akemi shouted as she left her dad's side and ran to her mom. "Is she ok?"

Hinata just kept staring off into the distance without really focusing on anything. It seemed that she was disconnected from the world. She didn't respond to her daughter's call.

"I don't know sweetie. I need to take her to the hospital." Sakura explained simply.

Naruto had joined them. "I've got her," he easily picked up his wife bridal-style and started walking towards the hospital, Sakura following him close behind.

"We will break you up into your squads now," Iruka called out, trying to keep everything in order.

Akemi turned to look at her friends then turned around in a circle to look at everyone else. Jiraiya was still crying in Kakashi's arms. All the families were bunched together, still on edge but trying to watch the rest of the ceremony.

Akemi slowly walked up to join her fellow Genin. Iruka looked to the group and put on a half-smile. They were all handling themselves better than he expected. "I will call out the squads and their leader. They will then lead you somewhere where you will listen to their orders."

Iruka started out, "Squad Red will be…Yori, Kari, and Makoto." The group was excited and got together before the rest of their friends. "Your squad leader will be Moegi."

Moegi came out of the crowd and joined her squad. "Hey guys! Let's do the best we can!" Her Genin looked at her with confused looks on their faces. She rolled her eyes, "come on follow me." The four of them bound off someplace.

"Next is Squad Blue with Ran, Kain, and Ayumu," Iruka was on a roll and wasn't going to stop. "Your squad leader is Udon."

Udon came up and scratched at his nose, although it wasn't running at least. "Alright team…" he said in a droll voice and the four bound off in a different direction than Squad Red.

"The final Squad Green will have the rest of the Genin, so Takashi, Ryo, and Arisu." Iruka finished up, "Your squad leader is Suno."

Suno, a tall blond Jounin came up to his squad. "Let's go," he said simply. The four bound off to someplace within the village.

"Why are the squads name colors?" Ichiru asked.

"We had run out of numbers, plus it makes them more unique," Iruka explained.

"Still weird," Ichiru commented.

"Don't tell me that, tell that to Naruto." Iruka laughed a bit as he helped clean up the mess after the confrontation.


	10. Chapter 9

Squad Green stopped by a sweet shop and got a booth inside. "Well that was an interesting way to start off hua?" Suno asked his team.

Ryo sighed as he looked out a nearby window. He definitely was Shikamaru and Temari's son. He didn't really to seem to care what was going on.

Takashi ignored his Sensei and looked over to his friend, "Are you ok Akemi?"

"Yea I'm fine," she answered him. Truthfully she was still a bit shaken but she wasn't about to admit that to anyone here.

"Well," Suno was feeling ignored. He ordered sweet tea drinks for everyone. "What is everyone's name and what type of jutsu are you good at or want to specialize in?"

No one started up at first, so Suno pointed to Ryo. "Why don't you start?"

"My name is Ryo Nara and thanks to my mother," he sighed while saying this, "I am a good medical ninja."

"That's good," Suno pointed out, "each team should have a Shinobi that is good or specializes in medical jutsu. Who's next?"

"I'm Takashi Shibito and I'm a Genjutsu user like my mom."

"Good, and then your next young lady," Suno went on.

Arisu turned to her new sensei, a dead look in her eyes. Everyone in the village should know who she was already so why did she have to introduce herself?

"I'm Akemi…." She paused, she didn't know what to say. After what happened at the training grounds earlier…

"Hmmmm?" Sumo asked.

Things were clicking together as Akemi was putting one and one together. The world fuzzed out as her brain started to work things out. That Sasuke guy did seem familiar to her and she realized it now. He was the guy who had attacked her the day before.

Sasuke…she had heard that name before, but from where? She rattled her brain to try to remember what it was. He was talking about the Sharingan. The two-colored fan image popped up in her head. The Uchihas…his name was Sasuke Uchiha. Akemi felt like her mind was going at a mile-a-minute as it processed everything.

"Akemi?" Takashi asked his friend.

She just ignored him, her thoughts more important. She had to talk to someone about all of this. She suddenly stood up and started walking out of the booth.

"Akemi?!" Takashi was shocked to see his friend get up. She didn't usually ignore him either. Something was up…

Sumo grabbed the girl's arm. "We're not done here yet."

"I don't care; I have more important things to do." Akemi said in a resolute tone and ripped her arm from him. She ran out of the sweet shop.

Ryo sighed, "It probably has something to do with earlier today."

"Well I guess there isn't much more we can do with just the three of us. We'll meet at the training grounds at eight tomorrow morning. Please tell Akemi." Sumo said. He got up and paid for the drinks and left the shop himself.

The two teens looked to each other. Takashi was at a loss of what to do.


	11. Chapter 10

Akemi ran to the hospital, she knew that Sakura would be there. Right now she was the only person that Akemi could talk to. She stood before the hospital and activated her Byakugan. She looked through the building. She saw three people in the largest room on the top floor. She recognized her father's chakra signature. The other two must be her mother and her little brother. She'd check in with them later, right now she had to find Sakura.

Akemi finally found her in her office with another person. Akemi jumped onto the roof and took the stairs down one level and found Sakura's office easily. It seemed like so long ago she was here for some chakra pills. Akemi looked in again and recognized now who was with Sakura. She deactivated her Byakugan and knocked on the door.

Shuffling could be heard from behind the door. "Come in," Sakura said, she sounded a bit surprised.

Akemi walked in to see Kakashi sitting in a chair before Sakura's desk. "Good afternoon Kakashi-san. Thank you for taking care of my little brother earlier."

"No problem Akemi, now if you'll excuse me…" he stood to leave.

"Wait!" Akemi said quickly.

"Hmm?" Kakashi asked.

"I need to talk to you and Sakura-san." Akemi responded.

Kakashi sat back down, "alright."

"What is it Akemi?" Sakura asked.

Akemi walked over by Sakura's desk. She looked out the window, unable to look at the adults in the room. "I don't know if my dad told you what happened when we left or not…" she trailed off.

Silence answered her, so she continued. "That man…Sasuke Uchiha, claims to be my…" she chocked on her words, she couldn't say them aloud. "I recognized him but I couldn't remember how or why. I know now that he was the one who attacked me yesterday."

Kakashi interrupted her, "you were attacked yesterday?"

"Someone used a fireball jutsu against me when I was practicing at the training field yesterday after the test." Akemi answered him. "I got a glimpse of his chakra network, and it was just like…" her voice caught in her throat again.

"He is an Uchiha so he has the Sharingan, and said that…" she still couldn't admit it out loud.

"What is it Akemi?" Sakura asked the girl.

Akemi turned to the couple in the room. She activated her Byakugan again. Both people in the room gasped loudly. Sakura got up quickly, grabbing a small flashlight out of her desk in one fluid motion. She went to Akemi's side and pointed the light into the girl's eyes.

"How…" Kakashi was lost.

Akemi's eyes weren't like the normal Byakugan. It wasn't just the odd dark color. There was something like a pupil that was starting to form. Sakura evaluated Akemi's eyes then went back to her desk to write down notes.

"He said…" Akemi swallowed hard, she had to tell them somehow. "that he did something to my mom to erase a day…" She deactivated her Byakugan again, closing her eyes as silent tears flowed from her eyes. "He wanted to create someone with the ultimate eyes…"

Sakura gasped again as she dropped her pen. "Your…Sasuke's…daughter…" she muttered each word slowly as she slipped into her chair.

Akemi forced herself to stop her tears. She nodded her head once. It felt like she was abandoning her father when she did this.

"We don't know that for sure yet," Kakashi said.

Akemi rubbed her eyes and cleaned her face off quickly. "Right."

"You should probably see your family," Sakura said, her voice died out at the end. She didn't realize what she said until it was too late.

"No…" Akemi said quietly. "I can't show my face to my…" What was Naruto to her now, if he wasn't her dad anymore? "to the Hokage."

"Stop that!" Kakashi said, a bit angrily.

Akemi's eyes shot open wide, surprised and scared.

"It doesn't matter if Naruto is in your blood or not. He is still your father who loves you. He would do anything for you. Your still family." Kakashi explained.

"He's right Akemi," Sakura said softly. "You don't have to be related by blood to be a part of a family. Just like you can belong to more than one family…" She smiled, as she remembered her own small groups of her families.

"Yea," Akemi agreed, turning her back on the two Shinobi and leaving the office. They could say that but she didn't know what to do now. She walked slowly down the hall to where her family was. Opening the door quietly she snuck in and leaned against the far wall as she looked in on the peaceful scene.

Her mother was asleep in the only hospital bed in the room. Jiraiya was curled up next to her on the bed, also asleep. Naruto was sitting in a chair next to the bed. His hands were wrapped tenderly around his wife's.

Akemi was able to lean away from the happy family without being noticed. She slid to the floor and held her knees and watched the scene quietly. It seemed like hours went by without any change, although it was more realistically probably around only maybe a half hour.

Naruto stood up and turned to see Akemi sitting on the floor by the door. He slowly walked over to her and reached out his hand to help her up.

She took his hand without a word. He continued to hold her hand as he led her out of the room and up to the roof. He sat her down on a bench as he knelt before her.

"How are you doing?" he asked.

"Ok…" she answered simply; she looked at him but couldn't meet his eyes.

"How is your new team? What do you think about Sumo?" He still tried to start up a conversation.

"I don't know…I kind of left." She answered him truthfully.

"Why did you do something like that?" He sat down on the ground before Akemi.

"I…" she started, but didn't know what to say.

"You were worried about your mom, hua?" Naruto guessed, although he was way off.

"That too…" Akemi stammered. She finally looked into his blue eyes and froze. She felt the pain in her heart and the distance between them even more now.

"What is it Akemi?" He asked her.

She closed her eyes quickly and shook her head. She put on a fake smile. "I think today just got to me. Some kunoichi I am."

Naruto got up and hugged his daughter. "Emotions are important to a shinobi, no matter what the rule books say. They make you stronger."

She just nodded her head into his shoulder. She couldn't find it in herself to hug him back. Mixed feelings were fighting each other inside.

"We should probably get back to the room. If Jiraiya wakes he'll wonder what's going on." It was clear that he didn't want to be from his wife's side any longer than he had to be.

"Kay."

The two of them went back to the room. Hinata was still out, and hadn't moved an inch since she was brought in. Jiraiya awoke when the pair entered the room. Akemi took him home for dinner, and to give the couple some time alone.

Akemi peeked over her shoulder before she left the room behind Jiraiya. She saw Naruto sit down in his chair again, holding dearly to Hinata's hand.


	12. Chapter 11

Akemi made dinner for Jiraiya and the two of them went to bed. In the morning Jiraiya had a small breakfast and ran off to school. He wasn't a talkative one usually, and since the situation the day before, he was even quieter.

Akemi didn't have much time to worry about her little brother. Soon enough someone was knocking on the door of the living quarters of the Hokage's building.

"Coming," Akemi called as she opened the door.

"Hey," Takashi greeted his friend.

"Morning," she said as she turned from him to finish getting ready.

"We're meeting at the training grounds," he said to the room.

"Ok."

"So let's go," Takashi could sense something wasn't right.

"In a minute," she was putting her headband on her head and grabbed her weapons pouch and tied it to her leg over her wrappings. She had her hair half back again, but was wearing a different outfit from the day previously. She had on a black vest, although it didn't have sleeves, and matching black armbands that went from her wrists to just before her elbows. She had on tight black shorts that went down just above her knees. Over the pants she had on a black skirt that went midway down her thigh.

Takashi was in the standard Konoha ninja garb. He looked his friend over, "what's with the weird outfit?"

"This is easier to move around in, I really only have a different top on."

"I guess, but you could lose the arm band things," Takashi commented.

She pulled them off her arms and headed out of the building with her friend.

"So what was up with you yesterday?"

Akemi looked to her best friend. She knew that she could tell him anything and he wouldn't say a single word to anyone else. They were friends since they were babies and she trusted him with her life. Takashi was the closest person to her.

"Remember that guy that showed up during the graduation ceremony yesterday?"

"Yea."

"Well, he claims to be my…" her voice caught in her throat.

"Your?" Takashi was confused.

"My dad…" she finally spat out. She shuddered at the words.

"What?!" Takashi cried out.

"Suush!" she tried to quiet him. She looked around as they continued down the streets towards the training grounds. "Be quiet! I don't need the whole village knowing. It's bad enough that people saw what happened at the ceremony." She composed herself, "he wants me to fight some guy they apparently fought in the past. They didn't defeat him although the Hokage believes they did."

"The Hokage?" he had picked up on Akemi's new name for Naruto.

"Hmm?" she tried to pull off like she didn't know what he was implying.

"Why are you calling your dad 'the Hokage'?"

"What are you talking about?"

Takashi stopped, and Akemi stopped as well. She turned to look at her friend. "Seriously, the Hokage is your father Akemi."

"I know that but…" she looked to the ground.

The rest of the village had awoken by now as people went about their daily lives. Akemi looked up to see a group of three women looking at her and whispering to each other. Once Akemi looked at them they quickly looked away and acted like they were doing something else. Could what happened yesterday already have spread through the village?

"Come on, let's just get going," Akemi grabbed Takashi's hand and started to drag him to the training grounds.


	13. Chapter 12

The duo got to the grounds and saw Ryo and Suno already waiting for them by the three wood posts. They walked over and joined their team.

"Well, should we continue where we left off yesterday?" Suno asked.

Akemi picked up like nothing had happened, "My name is Akemi Uzumaki, and I possess the Hyuuga Kekkei Genkai Doujutsu: Byakugan."

"Very good, and now that we all know each other and our strengths I'd like to see what you really got. One at a time you will fight me with your best jutsus at your strongest. From there I will be able to decide what we need to work on while we aren't doing missions." Suno explained.

"So who's first?" Takashi asked.

"How about you, since you asked," Suno suggested.

The two of them walked out into the middle of the training field as Ryo and Akemi sat on the sidelines to watch the fight.

Akemi and Ryo were sitting on the sidelines while Suno and Takashi stared each other down. Neither side was moving.

"Genjutsu, I wonder what Suno-sensei sees," Ryo summed up what was going on.

"Yea basically," Arisu rested her head on her knees.

"How long do you think…" Akemi wasn't even able to finish her sentence however, as suddenly Takashi was advancing on Sumo with a kunai ready in his hand.

Suno hadn't moved an inch, it looked like the genjutsu was still in effect. Takashi was at Suno now and ready to attack. However Suno made minimal movement to grab Takashi's arm and stop his attack.

"Nice try," Suno flipped his student onto his back. "Well I think that's a good run for you; who's next?"

"Might as well get this over with," Ryo complained as he got up.

"So you have some fight in you, hua?" Suno asked as he resumed his defensive position.

Takashi got up and sat next to his friend, "man I sucked."

"It's ok, you did fine. What genjutsu did you use?" Arisu asked him.

"He was trapped by tree roots that climbed up his body from the ground," Takashi explained.

"Nice!" Arisu commented. "You still did a good job. How good can Ryo really be with his healing strengths?"

Ryo and Sumo were standing before each other ready to fight. "Come on," Suno called to his student.

Ryo sighed as he pulled out a kunai.. He ran up to Suno head on, and tried to cut him. Suno dodged and tried to grab Ryo's arm to flip him like he had done to Takashi. Ryo saw it coming a split second before, and jumped a few times back.

"Nice," Suno commented, "now it's my turn."

Suno pulled out his own kunai and came at Ryo. A clang of metal echoed as the two kunai hit. After a few blows that each blocked in turn, Suno got the upper hand. When Ryo swiped, Suno jumped up and over him and held the kunai to Ryo's throat. "You're out."

"You really expected me to win over you Suno-sensei?" Ryo asked a question he already knew the answer to.

"So last up is Akemi," Suno said as Ryo joined his teammates on the sidelines.

Akemi got up and joined her sensei and slipped into her defensive position.

"Alright, whenever you're ready," Suno said.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Akemi called out, producing five different clones. Three of the five clones advanced on Suno.

"Just like your dad," Suno commented, dodging two clones at once.

Her clones faltered as Suno knocked the three attacking clones out, making them disappear into smoke.

There was still the one clone left. The two Akemi's looked to each other and nodded. They already had a plan set up. One Akemi jumped up and seemed to go and attack Suno, but clearly missed and landed a few feet behind Suno.

The two Akemi eyes meet and nodded together. They did a few hand signs and took deep breaths. "Fire style: fireball jutsu!" as two fireballs came out from either Akemi and met up where Suno was.

Smoke billowed out where Suno was. "Bingo!"

Suddenly one of the Akemi's disappeared in a puff of smoke as it was defeated. Someone poked the real one in the middle of her back.

"Nope," Suno said. Scarring Akemi half to death she screamed out loud and jumped up, falling onto her face.

Takashi tried not to laugh at his friend, "nice job Akemi."

Akemi picked herself up and brushed the mess off her clothes. "give me a break, I wasn't expecting him to come up like that!"

Suno sighed, shaking his head, "While in battle you should never assume anything as well as be prepared for whatever may come your way."

"That is an impossibility," Ryo spoke up, "you can't be ready for everything that an enemy may throw at you because you would never be able to attack."

"Very insightful," Suno agreed with him, "more of what I was trying to say was to watch your back."

Arisu just sighed, "yea, yea; like we haven't heard that a million times in class."

"And yet I was able to get you from your back Akemi. You all need more training."

Takeshi was finally able to get a hold of himself, "but that's why we are put in three-man squads with a Jounin or higher level teacher. Until we are Chunin and ready to do our part for the village."

"So what are we going to work on today?" Ryo asked.

"You all know the basic stuff that you learn in the academy, and from fighting you just a bit I know now that you learned a bit from your parents as well. But for now we'll work on some things you'll need to know as a team. First we'll work on positions so when we do go on a mission you'll know what I'm talking about."

"You mean the attack and defense patterns, right?" Takashi asked, "my brother told me about them."

"You're correct," Suno stood before his team. Suno started to explain the different positions as the team tried them out. They worked together for a few hours.

"Alright, I think that's good for today," Suno said to his team.

"Will we actually have to use these?" Arisu asked. They had been at it for five hours already and yet she really didn't see the point of it.

"Yes, it's the best way for shinobi on higher level missions." Suno responded.

"It's not like we're going to get high level missions anytime soon," Arisu complained.

"Just give it a rest," Ryo complained.

Akemi turned to her teammate and glared at him, where did he get the idea that it was ok to tell her off.

"Alright, alright, no fighting you two," Suno tried to stop a fight before it started.

"Ok," Ryo sighed as he started to walk off.

Arisu looked to Takashi, "Do you want to do something?"

Takashi looked a bit shocked; she had changed faces so suddenly. "Sure?"

Arisu looked to her sensei but he had already disappeared. "Guess he was quick to leave."


	14. Chapter 13

"So what should we do?" Takashi asked.

"Food sounds good," Arisu got a goofy grin on her face, "then we can decide after that."

"Sounds good." The two of them went into town and stopped at Ichiraku ramen. Arisu was greeted by name and the food was added to the Uzumaki bill.

"You sure you're alright?" Takeshi asked his friend.

"I'm fine," Arisu sighed as the pair walked through town without anywhere really to go. She looked at the people and noticed about half of them were either staring at her or whispering to their neighbors. 'Not again,' she thought to herself.

"I know, let's get some flowers for your mom and go see her," Takashi suggested.

"Alright…" Arisu sighed. They walked down a few more streets before coming up to the Yamanaka flower shop.

"Hey guys," it was Ayumu behind the counter.

"Ayumu!" Takashi greeted his friend.

"What do you guys need?" Ayumu asked.

"I need some violets please," Arisu asked politely.

"Alright, just a moment," Ayumu responded in a professional tone as he got a bouquet of tulips ready for Akemi. He handed her them as she gave him some money.

"Thanks Ayumu." Arisu thanked him and took the flowers from him.

"Going to see your mom?" he asked.

"Yea," she responded simply.

"Hopefully she's getting better, our family is thinking of you guys," Ayumu said, "just let us know if there is anything we can do for you guys, my mom says at least."

"Alright," and with that Arisu left the shop and started her way towards the hospital.

"Thanks again Ayumu," Takashi called out as he left the shop quickly and ran to catch up with his friend.

The two of them walked silently to the hospital. They went up and delivered the flowers to Hinata's room and left. Her condition hadn't changed from the day before.

Arisu didn't want to stick around the hospital. She heard the nurses as she left the hospital whispering to each other. She was getting paranoid as well as pissed off. Wouldn't everyone just let up already?!

Takeshi was finally able to catch up to Akemi once they had reached the park. "What is with you?"

"They are all talking about me!" she responded angrily. I am used to attention because I'm the Hokage's daughter, but it's always good. Now things are all crazy ever since _that guy_ came and ruined it all!"

"Akemi…"

"I can't stand it!"

Takeshi put a hand on her shoulder, "relax, people talk every day. I doubt it's about you."

She took a deep breath to calm herself, "you're probably right."

"So what now?"

Akemi fell to the ground onto her back and looked up at the sky. She still wasn't calmed down, but she didn't know what to do with herself.

Takeshi sat down next to his friend and looked at her. The way the sun was playing with her long black hair and the odd color of her eyes. He shook himself mentally, what was he thinking?

The two of them stayed like that for awhile. Soon enough the sun started to set. "I need to head home Akemi." Takeshi looked to his friend, who was still just looking up at the sky. "Well, see ya," Takashi got up and started on his way home.


	15. Name Mess Up SORRY!

I am extremely sorry everyone?!

I messed up with the names.

"Beautiful Sunrise of the Heart" is supposed to have Akemi

"Deceptions" is supposed to have Arisu

I managed to mess up the names somewhere within the stories – the characters are the same I just swapped the names around a few times.

Although it took awhile for someone to realize the mistake…Thanks Phantom!

The mess up is so deep in the story it would take a lot of work and time to re-upload all the chapters and then you'd all get spammed with tons of emails. So I'm just writing this apology and will be better from here on out.

Thanks for putting up with the mess up.

~Tora-Hime-Melody~


	16. Chapter 14

Arisu didn't know when her thoughts slipped from consciousness into sleep. When she awoke she was in her room and the sun was already up.

"What…?" She asked the seemingly empty room.

"You were asleep in the park," a voice explained to her.

"Hmm?" She rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she sat up. She looked to see who was speaking to her. She looked around to see Sakura there.

"Sakura…?" Arisu asked.

"Are you alright?" Sakura asked.

"Yea I'm fine, I just fell asleep laying in the park. You probably checked me over already though," Arisu responded.

"You're over thinking things Arisu; you should just be the kid you are."

"Right," Arisu got ready for the day, getting into another outfit just like the day before.

When she got out of her room, Sakura had already left. It was late enough that Jiraiya should be at the academy already. She knew her team would be meeting again but it wasn't until after lunch. She made herself something to eat and sat on the couch.

She didn't know why she felt so off. 'Maybe it's because I fell asleep outside last night,' she thought to herself.

She finished her food and looked at a nearby clock. It was almost one in the afternoon already.

"Crap!" she said loudly as she ran around to get her things ready. They were going to meet at one at the training grounds and at this rate, she'd be late.

She ran into the training grounds, gasping for breath. Arisu looked around but she didn't see anyone around. Even going the fastest she could go, she wouldn't make it to the field until after one. Something was up.

A noise, branches moving. It seemed that the world was playing tricks with her – making her more paranoid than she already was.

Maybe she remembered the wrong location, or maybe the wrong day. Her thoughts were all jumbled up from all that had happened the past few days.

Another sound, this time it sounded like someone was hiding within the trees.

"Ok guys, I get it I'm late so you'll play a prank on me," Arisu said aloud. No reaction from her surroundings. She spun around quickly trying to peer into the trees; nothing.

She didn't like being blind, but she had sworn to herself that she wouldn't use her eyes unless she absolutely needed to. She couldn't even sense if anyone was nearby – either they were a well-practiced shinobi or no one was actually there.

Arisu was putting her money on the first one.

She was right.


	17. Chapter 15

Through the line of trees came Naruto in his Hokage robe and hat. Not very often did Arisu see him in that outfit.

"What's going on?" she was confused.

"We need to talk," he responded simply.

Arisu dropped her guard. He was acting distant; he didn't do that before either. "Why are you in your Hokage clothes?"

"This is official Hokage business," again, he answered simply and distant. "Many of the villagers have come to me about you."

"I haven't done anything lately!" It was true, before she was in the academy Arisu was a bit of a troublemaker.

"You don't belong in the village," Naruto had reached her now. "If you don't get out, I will force you out myself."

Her eyes went wide in sadness and fear, "but what about Jiraiya?"

"He is my only child."

"But Mom is still sick…"

"It's your fault. She won't get better until you're out of here."

"No…" she shook her head, tears starting to flow down her cheeks. "Dad…" she struggled at calling him that.

"I'm not you father."

Her world crumbled around her as she fell to her knees. Tears were flowing freely down her cheeks now but no sound came from her. She didn't know how much time had passed while she stayed in the same position.

"Arisu!" she heard someone call her name. Her body jerked as she turned to see her team running towards her.

Suno reached her first, "Arisu, are you ok?"

"You look like a mess," Ryo commented.

"Shut up!" Takashi snapped at Ryo, throwing a punch in his sholder.

Her face showed no emotion. Her tears had dried up some time ago. Suno helped her into a sitting position. He looked her over, she looked ok but he couldn't tell if anything was wrong. "Ryo can you check her over?"

"Yea," he did as he was told. "She's fine."

"Arisu?" Takashi called to his friend again, "are you ok?"

She looked blankly at him, "I don't belong here…" Her voice was dead.

"What do you mean?" Suno asked her.

"He came and kicked me out. I don't belong here any longer…"

"Who?" Takashi asked.

"One minute," Suno said before he turned into a puff of smoke.

Arisu didn't even blink. She didn't care what was going on. She tried to stand up but Takashi forced her back down on to the ground.

"Don't stand yet. Everyone has been looking for you. Sakura left you at your house this morning and that was the last anyone saw of you. You didn't show up for practice today…"

Arisu continued to stare forward without really focusing on anything before her. Her mind was still in shock from what she had gone through before.

More people were running over now. Suno was leading the way with Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi, and Ichiru following. Arisu turned slowly to view the oncoming group.

Fear struck through her system. What would Naruto do to her if he saw her here yet? Instincts kicked in as she flew up onto her feet and jumped back, pulling out a kunai in the process.

Everyone froze, confused at what was going on with the girl before them.

"What?" Naruto asked out loud.

"NO!" Arisu called out. She activated her Byakugan, in turn her Sharingan as well. The world was cast into monotones as she could see everything clearly. Her head started to hurt with the sudden rush of information.

"Arisu?!" Naruto called out to his daughter.

"Stay away! You won't hurt me! I will leave!" She shook her head to try to get the pain to go away. She dropped the kunai as she fell to her knees again, gripping her head.

Naruto was frozen to his spot. Something was wrong, but he couldn't help his daughter without causing her more pain.

Sakura and Kakashi ran to the girl's aid. Kakashi held Arisu still as Sakura looked her over. She was able to find out what was wrong right away: Arisu was under a genjutsu and a good one at that.

"Release." Sakura said calmly.

Arisu opened her eyes, they were back to normal. She looked around as if it was the first time that day. She was confused as she started shaking. She couldn't cry anymore for some odd reason.

"What happened to me?" she asked. Everything was blurred from the past few hours.

"You were under genjutsu." Sakura explained.

"Arisu?" Naruto called, he still didn't move from his spot.

Arisu sat up quickly and looked over in his direction. He was in his normal black and orange outfit that he always wore. His personality was completely different than it was before. The man she saw before was before wasn't the real Naruto, her real father.

It was really him.

She stood up quickly and ran into Naruto's arms, "daddy!"

He hugged her close, "its ok, everything's alright now." He calmed her while petting her head.

Suno was close by as he knelt down near them, "Arisu, do you remember what happened today?"

She nodded into her dad's chest. "I awoke at home and Sakura-san said that I had fallen asleep at the park. I had a quick lunch before I realized that I was late for our team practice." She gripped at Naruto's shirt as she continued. "The clearing was empty. I kept hearing weird sounds and the next thing I knew…"

"It's ok, you can tell us," Naruto said calmly to her.

Everyone had now surrounded the duo. Ryo and Takashi were off to one side watching the situation.

"You came out of the trees," Arisu dug her face into Naruto's shirt trying to hide her shame. "You said some things…and kicked me out of the village."

"Why…How would you believe it?" Naruto asked her, pulling her away from him to look her in the eyes, "How?"

"Because, I'm not your daughter!" she yelled, now trying to rip herself from him. "I'm the reason mom's hurt; everyone talks about me; I don't belong here!"

"Arisu…" Naruto said sadly.

"It was just a genjutsu," Sakura explained, "it wasn't you father."

"We don't want you to go anywhere," Ichiru finally spoke up.

"You belong with us," Kakashi added.

"Please don't go…" Takashi asked in a small voice.

Arisu looked around at the group that was around her.

"If you leave who would take your place on our team?" Ryo asked, trying to be cocky.

"See?" Suno asked, patting the girl on the head.

"Let's go home," Naruto stood up, helping his daughter to her feet. "Jiraiya is waiting for us at home."

"Ok." Arisu responded simply.

The group of Shinobi walked out of the clearing and each went their separate ways.


	18. Chapter 16

Once they got home, Naruto put Arisu to bed for the night. After checking in on Jiraiya he walked out onto the balcony outside his bedroom.

"Sir." An ANBU black ops member appeared out of nowhere.

"Any news?" Naruto asked.

"We found nothing. Outside the village boarders are fine and nothing out of the ordinary was reported by any of the border patrol."

"Damn," Naruto swore aloud as he began pacing back and forth. "I need someone watching out for my daughter so this doesn't happen again."

"Who would you like to appoint, Sir?"

"Suno is already acting as team captain, but he isn't around her nearly enough to be able to watch her all the time." He paused to think for a moment. "I'll have to talk to Sai in the morning."

"Sir." The ANBU member disappeared as fast as he had come.

Naruto walked back inside and sat on his bed. His hand smoothed out the covers on his wife's side of the bed. His heart was torn in two: between his children and his wife. He laid down on his side of the bed, not taking the time to change or even go under the covers.

It felt like it had been weeks since he had slept. He felt his eyes close shut as the world dulled out.

"Dad!" Jiraiya called as he pulled on Naruto's sleeve.

"Hmmmm?" Naruto still wasn't a morning person.

"Dad, you have to get up."

"What's up Jiraiya?"

"Did Arisu come home last night?"

Naruto sat up quickly, "Yes, I tucked her in before going to bed myself, why?"

"Because I got up and had breakfast. I went into her room but her bed is empty."

Naruto stood up and ran out of his room and into his daughter's. The bed was made and the room was clean. He searched desperately to see if there was any sign of what she was thinking or where she may have went.

"What's going on?" Jiraiya was doing a good job at holding back his tears, "Mom still hasn't awoken; Arisu is missing a lot…"

"Shush," he tried to calm his son, "it's all going to be ok. I'm going to send the AMBU out to look for Arisu."

"It's all because of that man from the other day, isn't it?"

"Don't worry; your dad is the Hokage. I can make everything ok again."

"So what can I do to help?"

Naruto looked at his son. Because of all that had happened, his son had been forced to mature. He didn't want his youngest son to see this kind of chaos. Naruto hugged him tightly, "if you really want to help you can look in all the normal spots your sister would hang out."

"I can do that!" Jiraiya looked excited as he grabbed a few things together.

"Good." Naruto smiled. He watched as his son ran out of the house. Immediately once the door was shut two new ANBU showed up in the living room.

"Sir." They both responded.

"Arisu is missing again. Find her." They were gone again.

Arisu stopped as she rested on one of the high branches of a tree in the forest. She had left her home in the middle of the night once she had heard her dad fall asleep and start snoring loudly. She knew the words he had said earlier were true, but she was only a burden on the village.

Sasuke needed her to help defeat some evil bad guy, so at least she could do something good for the world. Maybe if she did help him, he would help her mom as well.

She had made good time, but she had no idea where she was going. She would start somewhere where she had been before: Tanzuku Town.

Konohamaru entered the village only to be greeted by ANBU. "Umm, hi?"

"Did you see Arisu Uzumaki?"

"Yea, she…" before he could finish he was surrounded by ANBU members and lead to the Hokage's office.

"Konohamaru?" Naruto questioned him.

"Hey Naruto, what's going on?"

"Arisu is missing."

"So?" Konohamaru was confused, "She plays games like that all the time, why is it such a big deal?"

"Sasuke wants her. Hinata is in the hospital unconscious."

Konohamaru froze as the realization of the situation hit him. "She said that she was going to Tanzuku town to look for Tsunade to help someone who was sick. I was confused since Sakura should still be in the village and is the better than her. I didn't think anything of it though…" He realized that he just let her go off.

"How far was she?"

"She was going through the forest instead of the road; which now that I think of it, that's weird."

"How far?!" Naruto was getting pissed now.

"Oh right, I meet her about half way there."

"She must have left last night…" Naruto said, more to himself.

"Tell me what I can do, anything." Konohamaru felt that he had let Naruto down.

Naruto didn't answer him, too deep in thought. He couldn't mobilize the entire village just to look for his daughter, no matter the threat that Sasuke played in the situation.

"Find Kiba and Neji and bring them here."

"Right." Konohamaru ran out of the room.

"Sai." Naruto called.

Out of nowhere in a puff of smoke appeared the ANBU captain. "You called?"

"Just a minute, there are two other members that will come shortly."

It was only a few minutes before the door opened up and Kiba came in, followed shortly by Neji.

"Thanks Konohamaru, you can go for now." The door shut.

"What's going on?" Kiba asked.

"Arisu left, apparently to Tanzuku Town to look for Tsunade."

"Then if she is just looking for Tsunade-Sama then why all of the fuss?" Neji asked.

"After what happened yesterday, there is cause for concern," Sai added, he was part of the search party the previous day.

"Exactly, so I am sending you three on a mission to find my daughter and bring her home."

"Sir." The three said together.

"One last thing; be careful."

The three left the room. Naruto turned his chair around to look out the window. It wasn't even ten in the morning yet and things were already complicated. His foot bounced nervously on the floor.

"I need ramen."


	19. Chapter 17

Arisu made it to the edge of Tanzuku town in good time. She looked in through the gate to see people living out their lives, just like at Konoha. She was lost; she only knew what the Sasuke guy looked like. She didn't even know if he would even be this close.

She took a few steps into the village and looked around. Her plan was just to wander around the village for awhile to see if she could spot him. She went down street after street but didn't see anyone like Sasuke.

After about thirty minutes she stopped. Arisu felt like someone had been following her for a few minutes now. She turned around slowly but everyone around her seemed uninterested in her.

She bit the inside of her lip; she didn't like the atmosphere here. She scanned her surroundings. Suddenly she saw a small person in a black cloak, but he had his hood down. He looked to be even younger than herself, around the age of her brother.

The small boy approached her, "Hi there."

"Hello?"

"Your Arisu right?" He had short light grey-blue hair and dark blue eyes.

"How did you know…" she wasn't able to finish her sentence. The boy had grabbed her hand and started pulling her.

"Follow me!" he seemed friendly and trustworthy. He led them down a few random streets until they looked to be in a more run down part of town.

"Who are you?" Akemi finally found her voice when they stopped before a small building.

"My name is Kurama," he answered her.

"How did you know my name?" Akemi was finally able to voice her earlier question.

"I saw you," Kurama was fussing with the door, "a few days ago in Konoha."

"So you're with..."

"Suush!" he quieted her as the door opened to darkness. Kurama gently pushed Arisu into the dark room and shut the door.

As her eyes adjusted to the low lights she saw two other people in te room who were also in black cloaks.

"Don't be afraid of them, they are on the same team." Kurama explained. "The big guy in the corner is Decarabia, and the weird looking one is Makami."

"Hey," Makami responded in a deep voice, "I am not weird!"

"Says the guy with lightning hair!" Kurama teased him.

"Hey, at least I don't have green hair like Decarabia!"

The guy in the corner just grunted for a response.

Akemi thought that the bunch in the small room was strange, but if they were with Sasuke, they could get her to him.

"You're here to see Sasuke, right?" Makami asked, turning to the girl now.

"Y..yea," she responded, her voice came out more nervous than she wanted.

"I don't see what Sasuke wants with her, she's a girl even!" Makami commented.

The big guy finally answered, his voice was even deeper than Makami's, "Don't question his judgements."

"Good point," Makami commented, "I mean some of the people he has together," he looked at Kurama as he said it.

"What? You mean me?" Kurama questioned him, "I could kill you if I wanted you know."

"Yea yea kid, you just keep saying that."

"Hey I did beat you at the last practice match!"

"Only because you cheated."

"It's not cheating if I use the resources around me."

"whatever kid, I would have won if Sasuke didn't step in."

Akemi was lost at the little fight the two guys seemed to be having.

"Where is he?" Akemi asked finally, a little more confidence in her voice now.

"He's in another town a few days from here. We are supposed to take you to him if you came here." Makami explained.

Akemi looked confused, how did Sasuke knew she'd go out looking for her? She was going to say something more but stopped herself. She could smell something in the air in the room.

When Arisu first entered the room, it smelled stale; now there was a mix of dust and ink…

Sai.

Of course Naruto would worry and send people to look for her. However Sai was an ANBU captain, why send him unless…there was more people looking for her than just him.

It seemed Kurama noticed something was up. His face looked serious as he searched the room. "There," he pointed to the corner.

Makami did a few quick hand signs and pointed at the corner. What looked like a string of lightning shot out of his hand and to the corner. A splattering noise followed as the smell of ink got more potent.

"Sai…" Arisu said.

"Who?" Makami asked.

"Sai, an ANBU captain."

Makami was cocky, "We can handle some ANBU captain."

"We'll find out soon enough," Arisu said, a little bit of fear edging into her voice.

"What do you mean?" Kurama asked.

"They'll be here soon,""

"I need more space," Kurama commented.

"There was a field near here, Makami commented.

The team of four left the house quickly with Makami leading. Shortly they got to the field that he spoke of. It was good timing, the team of Konoha ninja were approaching.


	20. Chapter 18

"Crap," Arisu commented. She recognized the three ninja before her. Sai was there along with her uncle Neji and the Kiba and Akamaru duo. She knew they were all exceptional ninja. Hopefully the guys from Sasuke's team were strong.

"Arisu," Neji called her.

She panicked and hid behind Sasuke's group.

"What's with you?" Kiba called out, Akamaru barked in agreement.

"She must be brainwashed," Sai commented.

"Get ready," Kurama muttered.

Decarabia whistled as the air got heavy. The fight had begun.

Neji, Kiba, and Akamaru stood completely still; caught in the genjutsu. Makami started stringing together hand signs. Sai wasn't caught as he pulled out his blanks scroll and pen.

"Watch out!"

"So he's the ink-user," Kurama commented as he also started his own jutsu. Wind started wrapping around him as he was carried up into the air.

Arisu felt the air getting charged as Makami was finishing up his jutsu. The charged energy was sent towards the three under genjutsu. The attack felt extremely powerful…

"Don't kill them!" Arisu begged, lifting her hands up in desperation.

"What?" Makami asked angrily, diverting his attack just slightly. The charge still hit its target, doing considerable damage.

Akamaru and Kiba were pulled from their illusions, their body surging from the electricity. Neji wasn't as lucky; he got hit right in the chest with the charged energy. His eyes were unfocused as he came out of his own illusion as he fell backwards.

"Neji!" Kiba called out, with Akamaru and him bounding to his side quickly.

"Uncle Neji…" Arisu cried out, her body shaking.

A large ink tiger was bounding towards the group before it got lifted up in the air by Kurama's wind. It exploded sending showers of ink down onto the field. Everyone was covered in small flecks of black ink.

Sai smiled; something he rarely ever did. He had the upper-hand of the battle now.

Decarabia fell to his knees. The ink that was crawling all over him was actually small bugs. His chakara was being drained, fast.

Kurama had shielded himself with his wind, but now he looked down on his team mates who were slowly being drained of their chakara.

The charge in the air was fading as Makami's chakara was draining. He looked up to Kurama "Hurry up and get these things off of us!"

"Oh, right!" Kurama said as he directed his wind at his teammates. The wind was able to knock off most of the ink-bugs that were the cause of the chakara drain.

A large black mass appeared in the middle of the battlefield. Out of it walked Sasuke in a black robe with his hood down.

"Sasuke!" each member of his team called at the same time.

Neji was still unconscious, with Kiba and Akamaru too damaged to be much help in a fight. Sai was the only one who could actually fight, but the tide of the battle seemed to be shifting again.

"Let's go," Sasuke commanded. His team, followed by Arisu, walked forward towards the black mass.

"Arisu!" Sai called out.

She looked to her family friends, a sad look on her face. "Tell dad I'm sorry."

Sasuke placed his hand on the girl's shoulder, leading her into the darkness. As soon as they disappeared into it, the mass disappeared.

"We failed…" Kiba said, clutching his side in pain.


	21. Chapter 19

Arisu's eyes flew open as she sat up. A light blanket fell off of her and onto her lap. She was lying on a futon that was in a small dark room. Panic filled her as she tried to remember what happened.

She was watching from behind some of Sasuke's men as they fought her friends from home. Then Sasuke came out of a black hole and took them somewhere in the darkness. She didn't remember coming out of there, though.

So where was she now?

Arisu stood up and folded the blanket at the end of the futon. She slowly opened the door and peeked out. There was a long hallway running on either side of the door.

The hallway was poorly lit as she started down the right side. Her steps echoed off the walls as she continued down. There were very few doors as she turned the only corner. She didn't dare open any of the doors.

Finally after a few more minutes of walking, she could smell the saltiness in the air. A small window of light was now at the end of the hallway. Arisu increased her speed of walking until she made it out the door.

The strong sea air hit her face as she looked down over a cliff. The fall to the ocean was a steep drop to the crashing waves below. Arisu turned around to see a large mountain with a door cut in the side where she came out of. There was nowhere else she could go but back inside.

She turned back to the sea and closed her eyes, drinking in the scent of the sea. This place was calm and relaxing, her mind was free for a brief moment.

'_What about everyone back at Konoha?_' she finally thought to herself, '_is everyone ok?_' She stopped herself from that train of thought and started on things here. '_Where is Sasuke and his group? Where is this place anyways?_'

Arisu turned around again to see Sasuke just outside the door. "Ah…"

"Come." He said simply as he went back inside.

Arisu followed five feet behind him as he led her down different hallways until they got outside again. They were lower on the mountain, and in a clearing by the looks of it.

"I want to see how strong you are."

"What?" Arisu asked him. Before she could ask anything further; a gust of wind pushed her into the middle of the clearing. Coming out now was Kurama.

"Hey!" he said energetically.

"Ah, what's?" Arisu started.

"Sasuke wants me to fight you. If you win the next guy will come." Kurama explained.

"But I don't want to fight!"

"Just like _him_." Sasuke said.

Before Arisu could respond, she was attacked with another blast of wind. It seemed less offensive than how he had attacked in the previous fight.

"Come on!" Kurama complained, "I want to show what I can do too!"

Arisu did a few quick hand signs before five copies appeared.

"Clones?" Kurama giggled, "I can beat them easy!" He did a few hand signs of his own as a mini tornado came towards the group of Arisu.

Three Arisus jumped up and out of the way as the other two started doing hand signs together. Just before they got hit by the tornado, water came out of nowhere from between them and headed for it.

Poof, the two clones disappeared. Kurama had run to the side and tossed kunai at them. The water still hit its target as the tornado was overcome and disappeared.

He spotted one of the Arisus, and after a few hand signs, threw three shuriken. They were going faster than normal, encased in wind.

She dodged, but the stars curved slightly and hit a clone that was hiding behind the first. The first rolled on the ground and threw a few kunai of her own.

"Weak." Kurama commented as he blocked them with his wind.

"Really?" Arisu had appeared behind him at some point as she poked him in the back.

"What? When?" he tried to ask.

"You failed," Decarabia responded as he entered the clearing now. Kurama left the field and sat on the ground near Sasuke.

Arisu slipped into her fighting position. She was starting to get into this.


	22. Chapter 20

Thanks to Phantom, Soprano-in-Waiting, and Mokimo for being my editors!

* * *

Arisu had been in one of Decarabia's attacks; as well as witnessed him from behind the front line. She still didn't understand _how_ he used his genjutsu but she had an idea of how to evade it…

Decarabia just stood there, but Arisu knew better than that. She clenched her eyes shut tight, if she didn't look at him; she couldn't get caught in his genjutsu. All she saw was darkness; so her plan was working. One fault about her plan – she couldn't see who she was attacking.

Decarabia just continued to stand there. If he couldn't get his attack to work against her; there was really no need to fight. "I give." With that, he went back into the cave he came out of.

Arisu could hear the footsteps retreating back into the darkness. She opened her eyes the slightest bit to make sure he was gone. It wasn't just a trick, he really was gone. She turned to Sasuke, but he didn't look impressed.

She looked back to the cave where another challenger was coming out. She hadn't seen this opponent before. He was wearing a skin-tight, midriff baring, blood red shirt, and tight black pants. He had short black hair and red eyes. He slipped into a fighting position in the middle of the clearing.

Arisu readied herself by doing the same, but was unsure about this match. She didn't know anything about her opponent; how was she supposed to fight him? A part of her wanted to use her eyes; but the majority didn't want to touch that power.

Before she knew what happened, a blast of fire was heading her way. While she was worrying about using her eyes or not, her opponent had already started the fight. After a few hand signs of her own, five copies of herself appeared.

The man before her just rolled his eyes as he did a few quick hand signs again. He shot fire out of his mouth; making the two clones that had charged him disappear in puffs of smoke.

'_He's a fire-type,_' Arisu thought to herself. She bit her lip as the rest of her clones disappeared in puffs of smoke as the fire jutsu onslaught continued.. She needed a bit more help when fighting this guy. She closed her eyes for a few moments and when she opened them her Byakugan was activated. Slowly, her Sharingan was coming out as well. The world was cast into grays as she could see everything in shocking detail.

The man before her was doing a set of complicated hand signs, she was able to pick out the individual signs, and copy them shortly after he was done. She was surprised at what she was doing, and before she knew it, fire was coming out of her own mouth to meet with the large flame coming out of her opponents. The two flames met in the middle of the clearing with a large explosion.

Both Arisu and her opponent were thrown back by the force of the blast. She jumped back onto her feet quickly and noticed her opponent behind her readying another jutsu. She copied him again and managed to get her version off one second before he could. Her fire attack came out and blasted her opponent close to him.

He had jumped back and avoided most of the damage. His voice was deeper than Arisu expected, "Pesky little kid." He looked to Sasuke and caught his expression. He knew what that look meant; "fine." He stormed off back inside the tunnel.

She wasn't kept waiting long, another person came out right away. Arisu was starting to get out of breath now. The constant fighting was starting to wear her out. The guy who was out now looked to be an old man. He had long white hair and was a little hunched over. He was still wearing the long black cape that he had worn before, when he had attacked her friends back at the Leaf.

"Senri is always a bit hot under the collar," his voice was aged. "Although you should not take me lightly, young one, I am Kou; an expert of earth jutsu." He took a few steps closer towards Arisu; who had slipped once again into her fighting stance. "I can see that you are strong with fire and wind; too bad for you."

He remained motionless, a dark amusement clear on his face. Arisu was confused, why wasn't he attacking? She slipped from her stance as she just stood in confusion.

"Wrong move," Kou said slowly as his hands flew. "Earth Style: Crushing Dome!" A dome of earth completely covered Arisu, casting her into darkness.

Arisu started to panic as the dome covered her. She could feel the air escape as the earth grew closer to her. If she didn't find a way to stop it; she would be crushed to death. She was forced to her knees, attempting to get more room; it wasn't working.

"STOP!" Arisu screamed out; her heart was racing as panic set in.

Kou smirked as he slowed the earth down, but not completely. He was having fun torturing his victim.

"Kou," Sasuke finally spoke up sternly.

Kou just continued to smirk. He had no plan on stopping. It had been awhile since he really could fight like this; he wanted to see blood.

Sasuke's eyes changed from black to red as he caught Kou in his Doujutsu. Kou stopped his jutsu immediately as he was trapped in Sasuke's world.

"Please…Someone…" Arisu cried out.

Another guy had run out of the cave now, and was attacking the earth dome with a large shovel-like weapon. Soon enough the dome was cracked enough and he pulled Arisu out.

She was collapsed on the ground gasping for air. She didn't even see who her rescuer was. She just stayed on her hands and knees, trying to control her breathing.

"How could you let it get this far Sasuke?" the savior yelled at him.

Sasuke broke eye-contact with Kou to look over at the newcomer. "Junpei…"

Kou was free from his world of pain as he gasped. He stumbled to his knees. "Damn you Sasuke…if it wasn't for that jutsu of yours…" He pushed himself back to his feet, and slowly returned to the cave.

"I'm ok," Arisu moved to sit. She finally got a good look at the one who had helped her out of the dome of doom. He had brown hair down to his shoulders with dark green eyes. He was wearing basic black Shinobi pants and a matching top, and looked to be only a few years older than herself.

"I'm Junpei; sorry about Kou." His eyes giving the truth of his sincerity.

"Arisu…" Sasuke called her. She stumbled up onto her feet and walked towards him.

"Seriously Sasuke? She needs to rest!" Junpei shouted at him.

Sasuke glared at him before wrapping his arm around Arisu's shoulder. He led her back down they way they came, going through a few different hallways they got to a single room.

"Here is your room." He opened the door to reveal a single bed against one wall. There was one light up on the ceiling, and a small chest closet in one corner. Sasuke turned around, and left her at the door of her room.

She didn't care what her room was like; all she wanted to do was rest. She walked over to her bed and collapsed on it. She didn't even take off her shoes. She fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.


	23. Chapter 21

Thank you Soprano-in-Waiting for being my constant editor. Sorry for the late update everyone - things have been a little...crazy in my life currently but I will update when I can!

* * *

Arisu awoke with a start as she sat bolt upright in her bed. As she looked around, the surroundings seemed vaguely familiar, as if from a dream. Then it hit her. She wasn't at home anymore. She had left it, with Sasuke. She ran her hands through her hair, and took stock of her clothing. While wrinkled and dusty, it wasn't beyond saving. She took a few minutes trying to beat some of the dust out of it and make herself more presentable. A gentle knock snapped her out of her task.

"Arisu, can I come in?" a male voice asked kindly from beyond the door.

She had heard it somewhere before. She walked over and opened the door to see a smiling Junpei. He was carrying a tray of food.

"I thought you might be hungry." He explained with a slight twitch of his lips. He put the try down on the bed and moved to join her on her bed. Seating wasn't exactly plentiful in the austere room.

Arisu picked up a piece of fruit half heartedly. Her hunger awoke with a vengeance though after she took a bite. Soon she resembled a blonde, bottomless pit of a Konoha nin, shoveling food in as fast as she could.

"I'm Junpei," he introduced himself to the kunoichi. "I don't know why Sasuke brought you back with him, or why he allowed a little girl to join our ranks." Silence fell as Junpei thoughts wandered. "You must have something he wants to possess." He finally said, more to himself than to her, but Arisu picked up on it.

"Possess?" She questioned him through a mouthful of food.

"Every member of our group is an expert in their own area. Kou, as you saw, is an expert Earth Style Shinobi." Junpei explained.

"What are you?" she asked, before taking another bite. Arisu was curious as to the teen's talents.

"I'm an expert of weapons," Junpei stated flatly, his face in shadows. He didn't sound proud of that fact.

Arisu set down her finished bowl. She tried to steer the conversation away from that. "So why did Sasuke start this team of experts?"

"When I joined, Sasuke said he was going to fight and destroy the evil of this world. That was four years ago now. We have yet to fight this 'great evil'." Junpei gave a mocking, hollow chuckle.

"So you joined up to help eradicate that…thing?" Arisu probed.

"I don't know about the others, but I wanted fame and glory, which anything of this magnitude is sure to bring, if we ever do it.

"Oh," Not the most eloquent of responses, but it was all she could come up with.

"Why did you come?" he questioned her, turning the tables on the confused genin. "We can't leave now that we're here, but Sasuke never forced us to join. What's your reason?"

Arisu was silent. The bedspread suddenly became infinitely more interesting as she tried to organize her thoughts. She didn't know if she could trust him yet or not, for all that she knew, it could all have been part of some sort of trick. The quiet spread for a few minutes.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want." Junpei added, noticing the reluctance of his young acquaintance.

"Why did you attack us at my graduation ceremony?" Arisu asked in a small voice, fighting the question with another question.

"Sasuke told us we just had to make a little mess to get a new member. He didn't tell as who we were going after. 'Just defend yourself if you're attacked.' Is all he said." Junpei did a decent imitation of Sasuke, Arisu had to admit.

"I'm his daughter," Arisu confessed, blurting it out as if ripping off the band-aid. It still didn't make it any better, but at least she didn't have to do it again soon.

"What? Then why were you in Konoha? No wonder he wanted to go in and get you back." Junpei's eyebrows jumped up, adding to his surprised expression.

"I didn't know he was my real father until that day." She looked to a wall, trying to block out the memory. "I always thought that I was Uzumaki Arisu, daughter of the Rokudaime Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto."

"That bastard…" Junpei responded angrily, "He took you and lied to you." The outrage was clear on his face.

"NO!" Arisu shot back quickly, anger clearly in her voice. She couldn't let this stranger accuse her father, well adoptive father, of something so despicable. "No one knew Sasuke was my father…not even my mother…" She slowly got quieter as the face of her quiet, loving mother came to the forefront of her mind.

"How…" he stopped himself when he saw the look on her face. She was…sad. Junpei was uncomfortable to say the least. What was he supposed to do with a sad, and almost crying teenager? "Why aren't you home now? Didn't they want you anymore?" Crap, it came out wrong. Smooth move, Junpei, real smooth….

"My family, friends, they all still accepted me. But my mother…I had to come see if there is anything I could do to help her…" Arisu felt like a dam was about to break inside her. She tried her hardest to hold it in place.  
"Oh, you love them all very much, don't you?" Her visitor's voice was curiously soft.

Arisu just nodded her head. She didn't think she could speak without that dam breaking. Thinking of everyone was making her heart and head hurt. She was holding herself back from breaking down and crying. She was a kunoichi now. Real kunoichi didn't show their emotions.

"Unfortunately, you're going to be here for a while. It's impossible to leave the island, or get to it really." He looked to the wall, avoiding the shocked stare the girl gave him as he delivered this little tidbit of information. "This island is in the middle of the ocean. Storms surround the island frequently. So even if you had enough chakra to get across the sea, the storms would get you."

"Oh," Arisu said sadly, starting to realize what she had gotten into. "Then…Then how did you all get here?"

"Sasuke's transport move." He turned back to her, "You've experienced it before."

"Right," She couldn't come up with anything else to say.

They sat there in silence for a while, before Junpei got up from his seat on the bed. "While I'm glad to get to know the newest recruit, I still have to finish making breakfast for everyone."

"You cook?" Surprise was evident on her face as her voice. She didn't know many men who could cook, and even fewer who could do so with edible results.

He chuckled, "Yea, someone has to." He opened the door and looked back, "You remind me so much of the little sister I left behind. She would be around your age." He left her room, closing the door quietly.

"His sister…" Arisu fell back onto her bed. She turned and buried her face into her pillow to muffle her sobs. She was heartsick; she missed home, where her family and friends were. Maybe coming here wasn't such a great idea after all….


	24. Chapter 22

Thanks, as always, to Soprano-in-waiting for editing my chapters. I'm pretty sure you all would get pretty sick of the same mistakes over time, if it weren't for her!

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A few hours had passed since Junpei left. Arisu got out of bed and fixed herself once more. She left her dull room to wander the halls, but she didn't really find anything exciting or important. For all she encountered, she might have been better off staying put. She continued on her pointless journey until she found herself back on the cliff side she had found the previous day. Junpei was right; the towering clouds were dark and menacing on the horizon, the restless sea crashed in waves against the sheer wall of rock, fighting a battle that had raged since time immemorial.

Arisu watched the struggle below until the winds shifted, the salty spray breaking her out of her trance. She retreated back into the tunnels, but going deeper within the mountain proved to be useless. The entire time she failed to see another soul. _'How big is this place?'_

The young girl felt a bit lost as she hit dead end after dead end. It was starting to get ridiculous. Sighing, she leaned up against the end wall. _'So this is how a lab rat feels in its maze.'_ Arisu could see an undying empathy for the little white creatures in her future. She rubbed her hands through her hair and growled in frustration.

"Arisu," a familiar emotionless voice called her. She looked down the hallway to see Sasuke approaching.

She pushed herself off the wall, "Yes?"

"Time for training," he put simply. He turned his back to her and returned the way he came, not even looking to see if she followed.

She ran to catch up to him. "So we can get ready to fight that bad guy, right?" She had been second guessing the real reason she was there ever since her conversation with Junpei.

Sasuke was silent as he went down hall after hall, until the narrow passage ended in a cavern with a high ceiling that she had never seen in the base before.

"So how is training going to work? What is this enemy like?" Arisu nervously started asking more questions, hoping they would be answered.

"You know how to fight, but you're controlled by your emotions. You let your fear hold you back." Sasuke explained simply.

Arisu looked at him, confused, "My dad…Naruto, told me that my emotions are important."

"Emotions are what lead to Madara's survival. Naruto was weak and let him alone in his final moments; letting Madara slip into the being he is now." He removed his black cloak to reveal a simple black training outfit.

"Wait…" Arisu hadn't expected to fight Sasuke. She had heard enough stories from her dad, that she knew this wasn't going to end well.

"Use your eyes, or you're going to get seriously hurt." He hinted, as his hands moved at a fast pace as he worked through a jutsu.

Arisu barely managed to dodge his fireball in time. All the while, her eyes remained normal. When she composed herself she looked straight into Sasuke's face and noticed his eyes looked different.

"Tsukuyomi…" Sasuke muttered.

Arisu's surroundings crumbled away around her as it morphed into a barren land, absent of all traces of color except the reds and black that painted it in the dim light. Her entire being was struck with fear as it shook violently.

"This is a world I created." Sasuke's voice echoed from everywhere at once. "I can change it to be whatever I want. In here, I control everything, even time."

Arisu started to panic as she turned around in circles. There had to be a way out.

Without warning, he appeared right before her. "You can take control of this place. You can break out of here. It's all in your eyes. You won't get out of here until you get control of your abilities."

Before she could even react to his presence before her – he vanished. She jumped at the sudden disappearance, falling as she lost her balance. The abrupt contact with a rocky surface kick started her mind. She slowly sat back up and surveyed her surroundings. What she saw was almost enough to make her give up. She rested her head on her knees, and clenched her eyes shut, trying to keep back the tears.

"What's wrong sweetheart?" a familiar, sweet voice called to her.

Arisu lifted her head to see her mother standing before her. Her eyes welled up with tears again as she got to her feet. "Mommy?" She ran into her mother's warm embrace. Her scent, her warmth; it was all the same as she remembered it. She drank it in.

"Hush now, everything's alright." Her mother calmed her distressed daughter.

Footsteps echoed over the stony ground, moving ever closer. Something, or someone, was coming. Arisu tore herself from her mother's embrace to look at the newcomer. Her father stood before them, growling. "D…dad?"

The blond man before them snarled deeply at the pair. The trademark scratches on his face deepened as his azure blue eyes gave way to scarlet red, the pupils becoming slits. His nails lengthened into claws.

"Dad?" Arisu asked fearfully; she started to get chills from watching her dad change. She had only seen him do this once before; while defending her against Sasuke.

She looked around; there was only the three of them there. There was no threat. The only possible target was…them. _'Is he going to attack us?'_

The father-figure before them crouched on all fours as a red bubbly chakra started encasing him.

"Get out of here," Hinata tossed her daughter behind herself, throwing her arms out as a shield.

"No, Mom!" Arisu cried out, tears flowing down her cheeks once more. "I just got you back!"

Her words weren't enough. Naruto was covered with a red chakra cloak as two tails sprouted. He outstretched his arm as his chakra extended past, throwing his wife to the side like a rag doll. A crimson stain started to spread on her chest, slowly forming a pool of blood on the ground beneath her. Hinata lay still.

"Mom?" Arisu called out to her mom, panicking, but she didn't move. "Mommy?"

Naruto growled, drawing the girl's attention back to him. She glanced back at her mother's lifeless body. Her eyes were wide in shock.

"Arisu? Mommy? Why is daddy scary?" Arisu swung her head around as she heard that innocent, achingly familiar voice. Her little brother, Jiraiya, was running towards the fray now.

"Stay back!" Arisu demanded, hoping to save him.

Jiraiya froze in his steps, his body shaking, "What's going on Nee-chan?" His scared little voice questioned.

"I'll protect you and mom." Arisu turned her back and turned to her father, "and I'll save dad too." She promised.

Naruto growled at his children as another tail appeared. He crouched down close to the ground as he snarled once more.

Arisu clenched her eyes shut tight as she tried to focus her chakra. If she could concentrate hard enough; she'd be able to at least buy Jiraiya a little time. "Get mom out of here." She ordered him, not taking her eyes off the man-beast in front of her.

Her eyes flew open as her hands started flying through the familiar hand signs. Suddenly eight copies of herself appeared, all ready to fight.  
The monster before her growled, it wasn't done yet. The fourth tail appeared as Naruto's skin darkened. Half of the Arisu copies ran at him, only to be blown away into smoke. It didn't even move, the pure power radiating off of the four-tailed beast was enough to destroy her clones.

"Crap…" Arisu bit her thumb as she tried to come up with a plan. The other half of her clones took one step towards Naruto only to go up in smoke. He was too powerful for her like this.

Her eyes closed tightly again, forcing chakra to them. She had to get her Sharingan to activate; she had to control the situation. Her eyes opened to reveal her one-of-a-kind eyes. Her Sharingan, buried within her Byakugan, had two little points inside.

As she focused her eyes, the world around her shifted. The monster that was her father was gone, her mother and brother were missing as well. _'All an illusion.' _She sighed in relief.

The land around her was barren. She couldn't see anyone around for miles. Just the brown-grey earth met her eyes for as far as she could see. She looked out farther with her Byakugan. Miles and miles stretched on, nothing changed.

There. Far out on the edge of this place, someone was standing, waiting.

Arisu ran towards the figure, intent on ending this.


	25. Chapter 23

**Thanks to Soprano-in-Waiting for editing! **

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Arisu ran towards the figure on the far horizon, but she didn't seem to be gaining any ground. She ran at full speed through unchanging surroundings. With her unique eyes leading her, she was finally able to close in on the person she was seeking.

She was nearing the edge of this space. She could feel her chakra draining. Her strength was beginning to fail her. She would have to end this quickly, or else risk serious damage to her chakra network and muscles.

She reached her target to see Sasuke standing, waiting for her. Her eyes shifted back to their original washed-out blood red color as her Doujutsu faded. She gasped for breath as she stood before him.

"You did well, this time." He flatly stated.

The world around her melted once again as the cavern reappeared; they were out of the Tsukuyomi. She fell to her hands and knees as her body started to shake. She was dangerously low on chakra as her body threatened to give out on her.

"A few more sessions and you'll have it perfected." Sasuke said tonelessly.

Arisu could hear his footsteps echo away from her and down the hall that they originally used to get to the cavern. He was leaving her there, in the state she was in._ 'Does he even care if I stay conscious?'_ She wondered confusedly, as her body collapsed on the floor in utter exhaustion. Her mind fluttered between consciousness and darkness as the cold from the floor seeped from the stone to her body, numbing her sore muscles.

It seemed like hours passed before Arisu could feel her strength returning somewhat. She carefully moved herself to sit against one of the cavern walls as she tried to recover her strength. She didn't want to push herself too far and end up collapsing in some random hallway while she attempted to find her room. Who knows what would find her in there.

A new set of footsteps could be heard coming down the corridor after what seemed like hours. She looked up to see Junpei enter the cavern. "Hi," she greeted him. Her voice came out stronger than she thought it would in her condition.

"Training with Sasuke?" He questioned her as he approached. Arisu gave a tired nod as he knelt next to the tired girl. "We've all had training sessions with him; and he's left a few of us in worse shape. Here, eat one of these." He explained with a wry grin.

He pulled out a small bag and pulled out a single small blue pill. He gently pushed it into Arisu's open hand. She popped it gingerly into her mouth. She bit it in half once before swallowing it. Immediately she could feel her chakra and strength return to her at a fast rate.

"Do you always carry those along with you?" She questioned him.

He chuckled as he replaced the small bag into his pocket. "Yea, you learn to carry a few around. You either train with someone to the point of exhaustion, or you find someone else who's done the previous. Though some are more appreciative of help than others."

Arisu stretched out her arms, and arched her back. Her body didn't appreciate lying against the cold hard ground for so long. She couldn't even tell how much time had really passed.

"Sore?" Junpei asked politely.

"Just a bit," she responded, stretching more.

"Here, I'll show you to one of our secret spots." He got up, and offered a hand to the girl who gladly took the help to get to her feet. He led her down hallway after hallway until they reached another large, well-lit cavern. In the center of this one, however, was a large pool.

"It's not really a secret, but it works. It's somewhat warm, but not as hot as a hot spring. It works out pretty well to relax muscles." Junpei explained. "We all worked on it, well almost all of us, everyone that would be help with moving physical objects." He chuckled at some inside joke that Arisu missed.

"Anyways, I'll wait at the end of the hall. The rest of the rooms down at this end of the hideout aren't really used for anything."

Arisu looked at him, clearly confused; "Why are you going to do that?"

A slight blush crept across his face, "Well we don't exactly have female bathing suits here, and you don't have a change of clothes. Most people get cleaner if they bathe naked." He turned from her, ignoring the blush that crept across her cheeks, and pointed to one of the walls. There were make-shift shelves made out of the wall. "Towels are on the shelf. You can put your things there while you soak."

"Thank you, Junpei," Arisu responded kindly. She watched the door shut behind him and listened as his footsteps grew distant.

The coast was clear. She stripped and gingerly slipped into the large pool. The warm water was a godsend as she sat on one of the earth-made benches. She carefully stretched her limbs, working out the aches in her muscles and ligaments.

The black haired girl sat, and relaxed for a bit before a sudden chill in the air made her shiver. She could feel a cool breeze coming from the direction of the far wall. Arisu swam over to investigate the source, and noticed a small crack that was letting water leave the pool and flow out to the sea. _'It must be a small channel to let the excess water flow out to the sea, instead of flooding the rest of the base.'_

With her curiosity satisfied, Arisu moved out of the way of the chilly air, and sat with the water up to her chin. With nothing to occupy her mind; it began to wander, bringing up memories of her family and friends. She didn't know how much she could trust Sasuke now, after the points that Junpei had brought up the day before. If Sasuke had an ulterior motive for her to stay here, she had to let her dad know, and soon.

'_One problem with that, even if I do get the info, how do I even get it back to him?'_ She groaned as the new puzzle presented itself.

'_Okay, Arisu. What would Dad do? Hmm…If I was Dad, and I needed to get information somewhere fast, I'd probably use my toads.'_ Arisu smiled at her plan, before she slumped back into the water, a scowl on her face. _'If I had the contract. Ugh! If only I could have convinced him to let me sign it, but nooo he wanted to wait until I was a chuunin…'_ The young genin stared at the ripples moving across the water as she tried to come up with another solution to her predicament. As she sat there thinking, something nagged at the back of her mind. Her eyes widened as she remembered a particular talk with her dad as a child.

"_**Sweetie, please listen to me carefully. You know how you have a little tadpole on your foot?" The young girl nodded. "It's a seal. If you're ever in trouble, like some bad men taking you, or if you get lost, all you have to do is wipe some of your blood on it. It'll summon a toad to wherever you are. The toad will come find me, and I'll come and get you. Understand?"**_

_**"Will Gamatatsu come?" She asked, her eyes lighting up at the idea of summoning her friend on her own.  
Naruto laughed. "I don't think so. And don't even think about testing this on your own." Naruto eyed his daughter sternly. He could see the ideas forming. "The Toads have only agreed to this as a favor to me. If you use it when you don't really need help, it's disrespectful. Only use it if it's an emergency." **_

'_The tattoo…'_ Arisu scrambled out of the water and close to a light as she grabbed her left foot, and inspected the small seal that resided in the arch. She let her foot slip back into the water as she scanned the room. Everything was smooth edges, nothing sharp that she could 'accidently' cut herself on.

She instinctively bit her lip, and the thought occurred to her. She tried to bite the inside of her lip. It happened so often while she shoveled down ramen at Ichiraku's. After a few failed attempts, she gave up. _'Why is it, when you are trying to bite your cheek; it's impossible.'_

She nibbled on her thumb, but no success. She tried her molars on it, and still nothing. She bit down hard, in anger, and managed to bite the inside of her lip. "Ow…" she muttered quietly.  
She managed to do what she was trying earlier. Arisu pulled herself out of the water as she put her thumb against the bite on her inside cheek. When she withdrew her thumb, it had a bit of blood on it. _'Hope this is enough.'_

After pulling her foot up a bit higher, she wiped the blood across the tattoo. She sat waiting, expecting something to happen. _'It's been a while since this was put on me. I don't even remember anyone doing it. Maybe it's not active anymore.'_ She mused as her hope began to plummet.

A poof brought Arisu out of her thoughts as something splashed down into the pool at her feet. She moved, and carefully leaned over the edge for a closer look. In the water was a toad in shades of browns and dusty pink, no longer than a foot.

"Hello, Gamasaki at your service." The toad responded in a high voice.

"Hello," Arisu greeted it awkwardly. She blinked a few times before she attempted to cover herself; what if this toad was a boy? Not that she really had all that much to hide; it was a pride thing.

"No need for that, dearie," the toad spoke up, "It isn't anything I haven't seen before. Besides, we girls need to stick together, don't you know."

'_A toad's body structure and a human's are much different.'_ Arisu thought to herself, mocking the response of the toad. "Right…"

"Don't worry, you aren't the only naked human I've seen. I saw your papa once, and let me tell you, I wouldn't mind seeing it again, even if he is the wrong species." Gamasaki added conspiratorially.

Arisu stiffed a giggle before her face went beat red. First she thought of the awkwardness her dad must have felt being naked before a girl toad; but the thought of her dad naked drove it straight out of her head. She shook herself vigorously to shake the disturbing thought out of her head.

Gamasaki cleared her throat, "Anyhoo, Why'd you summon me? It looks as if you aren't in any danger, just taking a nice bath. Did ya accidentally brush some blood on that seal of yours?"

"No, not exactly…" Arisu looked down, not knowing how to begin. As her voice bounced off the rock walls, she just realized how loud the two of them had been chatting. The kunoichi hurriedly checked her surroundings before she started explaining her situation. She lowered her voice to a whisper, "I was brought here to be trained to fight some great evil."

"Brought?" the toad questioned her with a furrowed brow, "By whom?"

"Sasuke."

Gamasaki gasped quietly, "You're here with that God-awful sonnuvagun?" The toad's face froze in shock for a few moments, before relaxing. She closed her eyes in recollection, "I remember now…the meeting that Naruto-sama had called us all for. You see darling, I'm ashamed to say I fell asleep since I haven't had been used in so many years. The last time I was summoned was by that dear Hinata-chan."

"My mom summoned you?" Arisu's brow knotted in confusion. _'Mom doesn't have a summoning contract…'_

"Oh yes she did, sugar; Naruto-sama put a summon seal on her once they had started going steady. It was his way of protecting her when he couldn't be by her side. Rather romantic gesture, if I do say so myself."

"I never knew that…" There was more and more that Arisu was finding out about her parents.

"Now, back to the task at hand, honey." Gamasaki brought the subject back around, "What's the situation here with you?"

"I don't know where we are, or how to contact or find my dad. The water surrounding the island is dangerous so I can't leave myself. I thought that if I summoned you, you could find a way to let my dad know that I'm ok, and maybe where I am. I don't think Sasuke's telling me the truth of why he wants me here."

"Whaddya mean? What'd he tell y'all?" She questioned the girl.

"He told me I need to be trained so I can fight Madara. He's turned into some type of demon now. If I do, he will return my mom back to normal…" Her voice trailed off.

"What's wrong with your mama?" Gamasaki asked in a quiet voice. Last she had known, the Hokage's wife had been fine.

Arisu took a deep breath as she clenched her eyes shut, fighting tears. She had seen her mother only a few hours ago, thanks to Sasuke's Doujutsu. The harsh reality that her mother was most likely still in the Konoha hospital hit her hard. "Sasuke took one look at her some time ago when he first came looking for me, and she collapsed. She hasn't woken up since."

"Oh, you poor angel…" Gamasaki responded comfortingly, sad at the news of what had happened to the kind woman.

"I don't know if Sasuke plans on returning my mom to how she was before…but I had to try. People back in Konoha were looking at me different because they found out that Sasuke's actually my…" her voice choked up. She couldn't make herself admit that that man was any relation to her. It was already bad enough that she was spilling her whole life story to a toad she just summoned.

"Anyways," Arisu changed the subject quickly, "I guess I summoned you to find my dad, and tell him that I'm alright. See if he can come here, and do something. I don't know what's happening anymore…I'm only a new genin…"

"Don't worry baby, I'll go find Naruto-sama. I am one of the fastest toads of Mount Myoboku. That's why I was the one summoned with your seal. No matter how far away you are taken, I would be the fastest to alert Naruto-sama." The brown and dusty rose toad puffed out her chest in pride of her abilities.

"Alright," Arisu responded. "Then I'm putting all my trust in you, Gamasaki."

"I won't fail you. Now how do I get outta here?" Gamasaki asked the girl.

"There's a crack in the far wall that should lead out to the sea. You should be able to get out that way." Arisu directed, pointing to where she could feel the breeze coming from. The toad started swimming towards the crack in the wall.

"Thank you." Arisu called softly as the toad slipped through the crack. She got up quickly, and dried off her hair with a towel before getting dressed. She left the humid room, and headed down the hall. Junpei was still waiting at the end of the hall.

"No one came by, guess I stood out here for nothing," He joked.

"Still, thanks. I don't know what I'd have done if someone had actually walked in on me," She responded, laughing a bit herself, although it was only half in jest. If anyone had actually found her 'visitor', she would have been hauled before Sasuke in heartbeat, and who knows what he would have done.

Junpei lead Arisu back to her room. He joked about needing a map before heading down towards the kitchen. "When you get hungry, just come on down; everyone just grabs food when they're hungry, anyways. Just take this hallway, take an immediate right when you can; then take the second left and you can follow your nose from there."

"Alright," she acknowledged before entering her room. When she turned on the light, she was shocked to see a set of new clothes, PJ's, and a hair brush sitting on her bed in a neat pile. She was thankful that someone had taken the time to find her some things. She brushed out her hair out, and then fell onto her bed, staring at the ceiling, waiting for the next event in the wild ride that had become her life.


	26. Chapter 24

**Thanks as always to Soprano-in-Waiting for being my ever present editor! Oh, and hopefully I can get the next chapter out next Friday too! But I can't guarantee anything; I'll be going to my first Anime Convention. So please forgive me if I don't get it out on time!**

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Naruto paced his office; it had been over a day since he had dispatched a search team in pursuit of his daughter.

In his distraction, Naruto almost missed Sai appearing before the desk, "Sir." His face was grim, a far cry from the emotionless mask that he had worn.

"What happened?" Naruto's heart skipped a beat. Sai was by himself. His presence alone caused the blonde Hokage alarm. Sai's team members, Neji, Kiba, and Akamaru, weren't present; neither was Arisu.

"She went with them willingly," Sai reported, looking straight into the blue eyes of his leader. "She wanted us to pass on a message for her, 'Tell dad I'm sorry'."

Naruto collapsed into his desk chair, looking completely lost. "Why did you go with them, Arisu?" He wondered, not caring the subordinate was still present.

"Akamaru and Kiba are injured and getting treatment at the hospital," Sai continued with his summary. "Neji is there as well; in critical condition."

"What?" Naruto asked loudly, alarmed. "What happened out there?"

"There were others with her. Three of them, they attacked us. Kiba and Akamaru were able to dodge enough for the lightning attack to miss their vital spots; Neji wasn't as lucky."

"Three? And one of them used lightning?" The leader pondered this for a minute. "Sasuke?" He questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Sasuke appeared in what seemed to be a portal of sorts, and took his team along with Arisu into it. They disappeared without a trace. There's no way to track where they went. From the abilities displayed, I believe the other combatants took part in the first attack in Konoha."

"Damn," Naruto slammed his fist into his desk.

Sai stood still before the Hokage's desk. He stood at attention, even though on the inside he felt he was a failure.

Naruto bit his lip as he spoke his thoughts aloud, "And I can't just mobilize everyone just to find her…"

"Sir, it was my mistake that led to this. Let me go and find her."

"No, Sai," Naruto replied quickly. "We need to figure out a plan first. Find Shikamaru, and get his lazy ass in here now."

"Yes, Sir." Sai responded; leaving quickly with a respectful bow.

It wasn't long before Shikamaru entered the Hokage's office. "You called?"

"I need your help making a plan of action. The team I sent after my daughter just returned."

"Ryo and a few of his classmates have been looking around the village for her. I believe Asuma's youngest has even snuck out a few times. They seem really concerned." Shikamaru informed Naruto.

"Huh?" The new Genin had completely slipped the Hokage's mind as-of-late. He was shocked at how proactive the newest Shinobi of the village were.

"We need to stop them," Naruto responded sadly after a few minutes of silence. Shikamaru looked at him, shocked. "Most of the team I sent after Arisu came back injured."

"What?" The fear of a parent filled Shikamaru. His Ryo was out there looking for Arisu. He could get killed, if skilled Shinobi had been injured in pursuit.

"I don't know the exact condition of them; but I send Neji, Kiba, and Akamaru with Sai. The only one able to give a report was Sai."

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes as his brilliant mind began to process the information as the Rokudaime began briefing him on the situation.

Three days passed as Konoha worked on a plan. Kiba and Akamaru were released with the instruction to rest. Neji was still in critical condition.  
Naruto rarely left his office as he closeted himself in the cramped room with Shikamaru and Sai, planning their next step.

"Daddy!" Jiraiya entered the Hokage's office after supper time, interrupting the meeting. Naruto looked up at the call, and finally noticed how dark it had gotten outside his window.

"What are you doing here, Jiraiya?" Naruto questioned his son, walking out from behind his desk.

"This toad showed up at home in the special bowl." Jiraiya explained.

Naruto's face turned snow-white as he took in the sight of the toad. He recognized Gamasaki immediately. "Thank you for bringing her here, Jiraiya, but it's almost your bedtime. Go home, and get ready for bed."

"No." he took a few steps back, clutching tight to the toad in his arms.

"Jiraiya, you should listen to your father," Sai reprimanded the academy student.

"I haven't been told anything since Arisu left. Mommy's still in the hospital, and now even uncle Neji is there. I want to help." He stood before the three Shinobi, brave as he could be.

"I'm sorry, Jiraiya, but there's nothing you can do right now. Tell you what. I'm sure Ryo's still up. Why don't you go find him, and play with him?" Shikamaru suggested.

Jiraiya hung his head, and turned his back on the adults. He started to head out of the office.

"Leave Gamasaki here though, Jiraiya," his dad instructed before he could leave with the toad.

Jiraiya turned, set the toad down, and left the office, sulking.

Naruto's hand cradled the side of his face as he watched the toad jump up to his desk. "I don't know what I'm going to do with him. When I'm home he keeps asking if he can go out and look. He's the last innocent one."

"The toad…" Sai started to say.

"He just wants to be a part of this. Kids are usually curious about things, especially if their parents or older siblings are involved." Shikamaru explained. He had the experience with watching over Ichiru, the oldest of Asuma's three children.

"Ah-hem…" Gamasaki cleared her throat, getting the attention of the Shinobi in the room.

"Like I was saying…The toad wants to talk." Sai explained.

"Oh, right; sorry Gamasaki." Naruto apologized.

"Oh, it's alright, Naruto-Sama. I remember the time that Hinata-Chan summoned me; you were going on and on about how she must have been in danger. You ran around in a tizzy. It took some time before you calmed down enough to actually listen to me." Gamasaki explained; her eyes glazed over in memories.

"Yes, yes…now explain yourself. You were moved from Hinata to Arisu after she was born. If she summoned you, that means she's in trouble. What's the situation?" Naruto asked.

"Oh, she is just the cutest thing, Naruto-Sama. You and Hinata-Chan did such a good job at raising her. Although she was so nervous and embarrassed; seeing as she was naked."

"Naked? Why the hell was she naked?" Naruto shouted loudly. His mind pumping out all manner of possible situations.

"She was taking a bath in a pool. No one else was around." Gamasaki explained, trying to soothe the frazzled parent, "Don't fret, Naruto-Sama."

Naruto sighed, "If she was just bathing, then why did she summon you?"

"Oh she….umm….now what was it?" she questioned herself as she tapped one of her fingers to her forehead. "She had a reason…a very good reason…"

Naruto sighed; he just remembered why he didn't use Gamasaki on Hinata any longer.

"Oh, Jiraiya, come on in." Temari greeted the young boy at her door with a smile. "What brings you here?"

"Shikamaru-san sent me here to play with Ryo." He responded politely.

"Ah," Temari knew where her husband was, and what they were doing. "Well Ryo is in his room with a few of his classmates. I'm sure they wouldn't mind if you joined them."

"Thank you, Temari-san," Jiraiya ran into the house and down the hall to Ryo's room with practiced ease. He entered the room, and the group of teenagers instantly went quiet.

"Hi, Jiraiya," Ryo greeted him awkwardly.

"What are you guys doing?" Jiraiya questioned the group.

Kari turned to him, "We're planning…"

"Nothing, none of your business;" Makoto cut her off quickly with a hand to the mouth.

"I know you're planning a secret mission to find and rescue my sister," Jiraiya knew of the teen's plan for a day now. "I know information that you'll want; but in return you have to let me go with you."

"What can you do?" Ayumu asked, a little put off that a kid was doing this to them.

"Let's give him a chance, guys," Takashi suggested.

"I know where my sister is being held, but I can't get there by myself." Jiraiya answered.

"But what help can you be? You were crying when the bad guys came the first round," Ayumu accused.

Jiraiya's face turned red, "I've gotten stronger since then. I could be a lot of help." The little Uzumaki asserted, displaying the stubborn streak the family was infamous for.

"I highly doubt that," Ayumu muttered, "How much stronger could you get in just a week?"

"I am the Hokage's son…" Jiraiya said angrily.

"Alright, alright," Ryo tried hushing the assembly. The noise level of the group was growing; he didn't want his mother to overhear them. "You can come along. We were just discussing when we'd be leaving."

"I still say we wait for tomorrow, after the sun rises" Kari suggested.

"If we wait for daylight, then we're more likely to be spotted leaving." Ayumu pointed out. "I say we leave as soon as possible."

"Wouldn't Ryo's mom get suspicious of us?" Makoto questioned.

"Then why don't we wait for our parents to think that were asleep? Then they wouldn't be any the wiser until morning actually came." Takashi suggested.

"That's how my sister left…" Jiraiya commented. "My dad was so exhausted, he probably wouldn't have noticed for a few hours if I hadn't told him. Everyone has been trying to find her; it'd probably take them some time to notice us missing too."

"Good, then it's decided." Ryo summed up. "Once your parents are asleep; get your things together and we'll all meet by the gate."

"Right." Everyone in the room agreed, nodding their heads.

"Where are we going anyways?" Kari questioned. "Knowing how far we have to go would help us in packing."

Jiraiya looked at the group, worried that if he spilled he wouldn't be able to go along. "The old Whirlpool Country."


	27. Chapter 25

Arisu fell to her hands and knees on the hard stone, breathing heavily after another intense day of training with Sasuke.

"You're still weak. You need to work harder." Sasuke scolded her; it was the third time already.

"I would work harder if I knew exactly what's going on." She snapped at him, unable to rein in her temper. She moved herself to a sitting position.

He pinned her with his glare. Again. Just like after every training session they had. He then turned his back on her, leaving the room without answering her question: again.

She sat there for a few minutes, trying to regain her strength. It had been four days since she sent Gamasaki for help. There was no word from Konoha yet. She was starting to wonder if they even cared anymore. Her hope was fading fast.

Once she felt like she was able to move again, she slowly limped back to her room. She had at least learned the basic layout of the base, so she didn't get lost trying to get from her quarters to the few other places she was expected to find. She collapsed on her bed with a groan.

She stared up at the dark ceiling, the shadows playing their games with her tired eyes. She sighed, and turned her gaze to the bare wall. Every day was the same. Wake up, eat something, go train until she's practically the walking dead, go back to her room, take a bath, eat dinner, go to sleep; then start it all over again. It had been that way since she had gotten here.

She was afraid that the cycle would never be broken. It seemed like forever since she had seen her friends and family from the Leaf Village. A nagging fear told her that she might never see them again.

Not liking the direction her thoughts were taking, Arisu picked herself up, grabbed her towel, and left her room for the warm bath. Her walk down was uneventful, just as always. When she arrived at the pseudo-springs, she knocked on the door; making sure no one else was inside. When no one responded, she hung her towel on the door handle, the marker for 'occupied', and slipped inside. After stripping, she lowered herself into the water. She sunk deep, letting the warmth penetrate her aching muscles. It felt good after another horrendous day of training.

She closed her eyes, relaxing in the calm water. The sound of crumbling rock quickly yanked her from her pursuit of serenity. Her eyes shot open at once as she whipped her head around to find the source of the noise.

She spotted the crack in the wall growing larger. _'Larger? What's going on?'_ She swam over to the widening passage, and peeked out to see appendages, and glowing rocks. She was shocked at the sight, "What the…?"

"Arisu?" a familiar voice questioned.

Her face lit up at once as a smile started to grow. "Takashi?" She suddenly realized her state of dress, or lack thereof, and sunk as low in the water as she possibly could as she darted back towards the ledge with her towels. "What are you doing here? And don't look!"

"What do you mean 'Don't look'? What's going on?" Takashi questioned through the crack in the wall, his muffled voice was a little panicked. The scrabbling against the rock grew louder and more frantic.

"Just give me a minute!" She shouted as she got out of the water. She grabbed two towels, and was able to cover herself just before the crack grew.

Takashi wiggled through the rough hole that was just wide enough to let him through. Following him was what seemed like everyone else from their graduating class.

"What are you all doing here?" Arisu asked, her eyes wide at the sudden crowd.

"What are you doing in a towel?" Ayumu asked in surprise before Kari elbowed him in the side.

"I was taking a bath in the hot spring." Arisu responded.

"That's a hot spring?"

"Well, it's the best we could do - Hey, you never answered why you guys are here?" Arisu questioned them.

"To save you," Jiraiya edged his way to the front of the group. After spotting his sister, tears welled up in his eyes. He ran up to her, giving her a tight hug, as if letting her go would mean losing her again.

"Jiraiya…" Arisu cooed to him softly. "What are you doing here? It's dangerous, and you aren't even a ninja yet."

"I wanted to help…" He looked down, burying his face in her towel, never releasing her.

"Ok, ok; now can you let me go? My towel will fall if you don't…"

Jiraiya loosened his hold on her, but didn't let go of her hand. "We just followed what the toad said," he commented.

"Toad? You mean Gamasaki?" she questioned.

"Yea, though daddy made me leave it with him."

"I bet they haven't even notice that we left," Makoto commented.

Arisu looked to her friends, clearly pissed off, "You didn't tell anyone where you were going? And you brought Jiraiya with you?"

"Don't blame us! He's becoming a right little negotiator. He wouldn't tell us where you were being held unless he was able to come along," Ryo snapped.

"You could have ditched him after! Tied him to a tree or something!" Arisu's voice was growing louder, "This is too dangerous for a little kid like him!"

"Don't go telling me what I can and can't do, you're not mom!" Jiraiya yelled at her, yanking his hand from her hold.

Arisu took a step back at her younger brother's harsh words. The reality of life outside of the hideout sunk in. Seeing her old friends made her so happy that she forgot what the situation was like out there.

A knock at the door startled Arisu out of her thoughts. "Arisu, is everything alright in there?"

She started sweating bullets, it was Junpei. "I'm fine, everything's alright," she called out to him.

"Then why where you yelling? I thought I heard a guy's voice in there. Is one of the other guys bothering you?"

"No," she tried to stay calm. "You must just be hearing things. You know how the corridors echo. No one else is in here."

"I'm going to open the door to check; cover yourself." The door started to open slowly.

Arisu turned and shushed her friends as she bounded over to the door. She stopped it from opening more than a few inches, obstructing Junpei's view of the rest of the room. "See? No one else here, so you can go make dinner now. I was just getting out anyways."

"I was actually going to get in after you," Junpei commented, "Seems Kurama didn't want to go easy today." He added with a grimace as he stretched some sore muscles.

"Does he ever?" Arisu tried to joke along with him, it wasn't working. Someone had made a noise behind her.

"Someone is in there…" Kurama's voice was deep from behind Junpei. "The air is saltier from the sea."

Junpei and Kurama forced the door open, knocking Arisu to the ground. Arisu watched in horror as Junpei and Kurama's eyes widened at the sight of the group of genin armed and ready.


	28. Chapter 26

_Thank you all for being so patient with me for my failure of regular updates! I know anyone who is following this story yet has waited a year for something. Well, here you go! And to any new readers out there, I started this story years ago; before all of this newly added plot stuff. So please don't rant on me about how this isn't Madara._

_And thanks always to Soprano-in-Waiting for editing my chapter. If you would please check her out, her stories are steps above mine!  
_

_Now please enjoy!_

* * *

Junpei and Kurama had deftly avoided the attacks of the inexperienced youngsters, and swiftly disabled the invaders. After a brief, but furious fight, the Konoha children found themselves with their arms bound, and their weapons confiscated. The would-be rescuers landed in a pile as they were tossed into the two nearest cells in the bowels of the underground base.

"We failed…" Jiraiya cried. Tears began to track down his cheeks. His cellmates, Ryo and Takashi, groaned as they wormed their way into a more comfortable position than the pile they had been thrown into. Flickering light illuminated the cell opposite theirs. In the shadows, Kari, Ayumu and Makoto could just barely be seen moving as they attempted the same.

"We didn't fail, they were just too strong." Ayumu sighed from across the hall.

"There were only two of them, and the one kid couldn't have been older than Jiraiya!" Makoto complained, as he thumped his head against the solid wall.

"Doesn't matter. We were still beaten by them. It was just bad timing," Ryo reasoned, trying to calm the fighting.

Kari sniffed, trying to hold back tears. "I th-thought we were j-just going to g-grab Arisu, a-and leave." The girl stuttered. Whether it was from shock, or from the chill settling in as they sat on the stone cold floor, they couldn't tell.

"We knew what we were getting into when we went on the mission," Takashi added despondently. "I just hope Arisu is okay."

"Let me out of here!" Arisu screamed. "I didn't know they were coming. I didn't tell them to come!" The kunoichi shivered as she wriggled in the ropes that held her fast to the chair. She had been working to find some way out of the restraints since she had awoken to find herself tied to a wooden chair. At least one of those idiots had been so kind as to put her in a robe, instead of leaving her in the towel.

The room around her melted, as fire started to overtake her surroundings. Arisu clenched her eyes shut, and took a deep breath. She fought the urge to cough from the smoke her mind was being convinced was there. It was just an illusion. She interrupted her chakra for a brief second. When she opened her eyes, the dreary furnishings of her room replaced the roaring flames.

"Decarabia?" She yelled. She knew the genjutsu specialist had to be somewhere nearby to have cast the illusion. "Let me go! I know you're there!"

"Stupid child. You're lucky you are still alive." Kou came through the doorway slowly, followed by Decarabia and Yosuke.

"Just wait until I tell Sasuke what you did to me…" Arisu threatened. The dust-haired taijutsu user stalked forward, and fisted a hand the neck of her robe, pulling her chair precariously onto its front legs.

"He'll do even worse to you once we tell him that you called your little friends here for a rescue mission." Yosuke spat back, roughly releasing the dark-haired teen from his grasp. She tottered a few moments before settling back onto all four feet of the chair.

"I didn't call them! I haven't had any contact with them since I came searching for Sasuke!" She lied, glaring furiously at them.

Light, small footsteps echoed down the hall, before Kurama stopped in front of her door. "Sasuke's ordered everyone to gather up on the clearing. Something's coming, and we all need to be ready."

"Uchiha thinks he can order me around…" Kou muttered angrily, showing the stubbornness of the earth element he has mastered.

"Looks like there are more Konoha ninja approaching," Kurama said seriously, any hint of his usual childish behavior absent from his tone.

"Who?" Yosuke questioned him.

"The Hokage and a group of other nin. Jounin, probably." Kurama answered quickly.

"Daddy?" The bound teen breathed. Hope fluttered in Arisu, reawakening the urge to fight.

Kurama walked over, and cut through the ropes with a blade of wind. He tossed her clothes and gear at her, waiting impatiently outside the room for her to get dressed. Once armed, he grabbed her by the forearm, and led the way through the winding cavern pathways, until the group emerged into a shadowy entrance. They followed a dirt path up to the summit of the mountain. On top, they found Sasuke and the rest of his team already waiting in the flat clearing. The other team members stood restlessly, shifting positions in the sparse, coarse grass. Eyes twitched with every little breeze that shook the brush that grew along the stony ridge. The Uchiha was staring out over the sea as a speck on the horizon grew larger.

It was only a minute before Sasuke turned towards the south. "Hello Naruto." His deep voice echoed through the sea air.

The rest of the group turned to see the furious blond, along with his team, gracefully land in a cloud of dust after they had vaulted from the base of the dormant volcano.

"Where's Arisu?" Naruto demanded. Steel blue eyes spotted his daughter within the center of the group, right next to Sasuke. He took a step forward, "Are you okay?"

"I'm alright, Daddy," Arisu spoke barely over a whisper. Her captor's head jerked up, and his eyes widened in alarm, as his clothes whipped around him in the wind.

"We have company!" Kurama shouted. Dark shadows descended from the sky. Their wispy figures shifted with the winds, yet drew closer, surrounding the two parties on the mountain top. Blood red eyes watched them from all sides.

"What a surprise! You make this so easy for me," The largest black mass spoke with a menacing deep voice. A number of the shadows gathered together, solidifying into the form of a massive, black dragon. Steely black talons clenched the stones of the surrounding ledge, crumbling them to gravel in their grip. The scaled torso towered over the shinobi, as the glowing red eyes surveyed first one group, then the other. Arisu could almost feel the maniacal glee emanating from the great beast. She felt like prey that had been cornered underneath that calculating scrutiny.

"What is that thing?" Lee yelled out.

"That," Sasuke responded coldly, "is Madara."

"Or what was left of him," Naruto finished, slipping into a ready stance.

"What?" Arisu cried in shock. "I thought he was dead! You said he was gone."

The dragon peered at humans below, as its shadowed minions surrounded them. "Oh, no, young one." The beast cackled. "I was weak after those two defeated me; incredibly weak, but not finished. Thanks to Naruto sparing me, I had just enough power to merge myself with the beast I had summoned. It took a grueling fifteen years to get my strength back. And now here I am; to finish what I started all those years ago." He finished, rearing up on his hind legs, wings spread to display the new form. A number of the shinobi stepped back in fear.

"All of the beasts have been dealt with. You can no longer get your hands on their power." Sasuke responded calmly, unfazed by the monster's speech.

Naruto glared at the dragon before him. "And I won't make the same mistake twice!"

Madara only smiled, he raised his clawed hands into the air shrugging, "As you wish."


End file.
